King Banian was given the “opportunity” by the state of Minnesota to fill out a health assessment in exchange for reduced co-pays on his insurance. He reproduces some of the questions related to second-hand tobacco exposure, which he found both inane and an invasion of his privacy. Moreover, he’s “concerned that health officials and health professionals are now trying to recruit private individuals to be part of the smoking police.”
More likely, though, the state is reinforcing the incentive to lie on questionnaires. Presumably, admitting that you spend time in areas where there are substantial amounts of cigarette smoke — let alone that, horrors, you actually smoke yourself — could be used to increase your premiums or to weed you out of the system entirely. Why would anyone, then, answer these questions honestly?
