You make a good point about how to address it. We already allow life insurance companies to penalize smokers by charging them more for life insurance. Should health insurers be allowed to do the same? If we do, shouldn't we allow them to penalize people who are overweight? How about gravy eaters? How far could it go?

As certainly as we don't want government telling us what we should eat (witness the pushback to Michelle Obama's efforts to improve nutrition in school lunches), isn't it just as bad to have government tell insurance companies they have to insure fatties at the same rate as those who fit the fitness profile? What happens when companies require fitness standards for employment? They pay more for our obesity too.

A nanny state works in a lot of different ways.

BKb