Acceptable Smokers' Rights: None

Here in Canada, we have a government-funded program called Medicare that, in theory, provides equal access to health care for all Canadians. Although it has been under attack in recent years for its cost, it remains a model for other nations - can you hear me, America? - looking to set up their own system.

To that end, I've long questioned the fairness of smokers placing increased demands on an overburdened public health system. It's one thing to be afflicted with disease over which you have no control. It's quite another to willingly expose yourself to increased risk. Why governments can't look to private insurance - where wacko drivers who rack up tickets and insist on driving sports cars pay significantly higher premiums than the rest of us - and apply a similar ethos in the public sector is rather beyond me.

So I stumbled into this article, Smokers 'should not get NHS care', on the BBC's site earlier today. OK, I lied. My RSS reader delivered it to me. But you don't care about my techie toys...and I'm digressing yet again. Regardless of delivery method, the article summarizes my recent rantings on the topic. Let the debate begin.

Interestingly, I wrote this piece in the Free Press recently that more or less parallels this topic. No, I don't smoke. I'm tired of long waiting periods getting longer because of people who do.