Quote:
Originally Posted by Vicky.
Smokers and 'fatties' (and alcoholics I believe) cost the taxpayer thousands less than 'healthy people do in a lifetime.
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Technically true because it's the elderly who really start to be "costly" - however, far less so if they've eaten healthily throughout their lives. They don't have to be fat to be affected by bad eating choices. Many "old person ailments" such as joint problems, back pain, and even degenerative mental problems have their roots firmly in poor diet (heavy on sugars and refined carbohydrates).
Cigarettes are the best one for the government coffers, really. It tends not to cause long-running ongoing health issues, you just smoke for several decades and then drop of sudden aggressive lung cancer in a matter of months, ten to twenty years prematurely. Cha-ching, NHS win.