People´s health has traditionally been considered their own business, but the costs of generally bad health have been recently been taken up in public debates – (increasing) direct and indirect costs are large and they can be influenced by a number of measures.
Should we motivate or should we instigate measures through use of the rule of law?
Reduced food intake and more exercise will increase your lifespan – the evidence is solid. Banning smoking is a recent example where the evidence is clear – smoking-related illness is being reduced.
Infectious diseases have been taken care of by society through compulsory measures like vaccination, sanitation, waste disposal systems.
People may now be willing to pay for health through taxes: VAT differentiation, increased charges on “bad habits”.
We should move slowly – start by thinking about health at work, schools, in transport, cities, building- and use broad measures.
