Adam Linker of the N.C. Justice Center complains in an op-ed in the Raleigh News & Observer that the State Health Plan wants to make smokers and the obese pay more for their health insurance but the state is reluctant to ban smoking in public places.

Somehow Linker thinks it is perfectly fine for the government to infringe on property rights in the name of public health but cruel to charge people more for their health choices.

Linker thinks we should all get the same health plan and pay the same amount for it, meaning the healthy will subsidize the unhealthy either through higher insurance premiums, higher taxes, or less access to doctors.

Wouldn’t it be better to allow state employees to use their own money and make their own health decisions? Oh, right, Linker thinks we can’t trust state employees to make their own decisions, we need to leave that to the State Health Plan.

But he was complaining about the State Health Plan.

Can you square this circle?