[ams6110]

A huge fraction of health care expenses is due to lifestyle choices. Most diabetes (diet and obesity), most cancer (smoking), many knee/hip replacements (obesity), most hypertension (diet, obesity, sedentary lifestyle), not to mention alcoholism and drug addicition which at least starts with lifestyle choices.

[tcj_phx]

People make the best choices they can with the information available to them.

Malcolm Gladwell recently had a podcast about how McDonalds ruined their French fries when they got bullied into changing their fryer oil from stable saturated fats to unstable polyunsaturated oil: http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/19-mcdonalds-broke-my...

I don't think The American Heart Association's propaganda campaign against stable cooking fats helps individuals make good choices for themselves.

Alcohol and drug addictions usually start with physical and/or mental anguish, not 'lifestyle choices'. I wrote about this recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15024780