Paul Ray, a Republican state representative in Utah, has introduced a bill to require smokers on Medicaid to come up with a copay because they cost the system more. He says that private health insurance charges smokers more so why not Medicare?

Here’s why not.

Let’s get rid of the comparison to private health insurers first. They charge smokers more because in the short term they cost the insurance companies more. Medicaid’s problem is the long term where smokers don’t cost nearly as much. They die. They don’t linger. They should get a refund while they’re still alive.

A pack of cigarettes costs about $7 in Utah. A lot of that $7 is state tax. What do smokers get for that? Nothing. Paul Ray says if smokers can pay $7 a pack they can pay $3 more when they access the state’s Medicaid system. They already pay that, most of them every day, and they get nothing. The tax is out and out theft.

The excuse for the tax (and the copay) is that a certain behavior costs the system more. It’s a wedge issue. If they get away with this, they’ll come after other behaviors that cost the system more: behavior that often results in AIDS (just kidding, they wouldn’t dare), riding motorcycles, too much salt, too many burgers and ribs, too much bread and butter, too much alcohol, meth, jaywalking, not enough exercising, gun ownership, not getting a flu shot, not wearing a hairnet when operating machinery, going out in the rain without rubber boots. Who know where they’ll stop? We only know they won’t stop. They never do.

Paul Ray introduced this dishonest bill. He knows it’s a wedge issue. Clearly, the only solution is regular wedgies for our elected representatives. Let’s start with Paul Ray.