What could any one write, say or photograph about Israel's national health basket that actually hasn't already been written, said or photographed? Desperately ill people have appeared in the media to illustrate just how deaf the establishment is to their needs. The new health minister had said that he would expand the country's health benefits to include more medicines.

Smokers cause damage both to their health and also their surroundings, damage that too-often results in heart and lung disease. Smokers' chances of requiring heart stunts or other expensive treatments are significantly higher than non-smokers. Is it really fair to ask non-smokers to pay for the calculated risks taken by smokers?

Just like the bad drivers pay more for car insurance, smokers must be required to pay higher rates for health taxes. There are about 500,000 smokers in the work force. If all were required to pay an average of NIS 100 (USD 23) per month in addition to the current health tax, it would add NIS 500 million (USD 113 million) to the national health budget - far more than the package given this year by the government.

The plan

How would country identify smokers? Every person would be required to fill out a health statement at his or her health insurer. Doctors could easily identify patients who smoke. A broad advertising campaign can warn people that those making false declarations would be forced to pay for treatment from their own pockets.

Those who quit smoking would have their health tax cut, just like drivers who make many insurance claims have their premiums cut after long periods of no claims.

Most fat people do not want to be fat, and in the some serious cases their problems are genetic and cannot be controlled. Similarly, no new mother wants to give birth to a deformed baby, and if incase there is some genetic problem, most of the time it cannot be controlled. But those who choose to endanger their health must pay. .

Basic condition

Of course, there is one basic condition for this proposal to succeed: All additional tax monies produced by the "smoker's tax" should be used to pay for medicines. If the country's health funds and finance ministry uses the money for other purposes, we will have solved nothing.

How do we prevent them from salivating over the additional funds? The appropriate legislation and also suitable supervision of independent players.

Prof. Eli Pollak is a member of the Chemical Physics Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science and a former head of the Professors for a Strong Israel group.