With socialized medicine, these people are stealing from the state. Britain should outlaw smoking, drinking, and eating fatty foods. Two servings of vegetables per day is now compulsory, enforceable by a fine of 20 shillings.
There's an interesting question about where to draw the line, but in any extant country there are individual behaviors that can increase costs for the state, which doesn't necessarily mean we should ban them. For example, in countries with a state-provided fire department, one might argue candles, propane grills, and halogen lamps should be banned. In countries with a state-provided police department, perhaps we ought to ban controversial speeches and parades that induce extra police protection (not to mention enforce a strict nighttime curfew). And in countries with state-provided pensions, perhaps we ought to make various lifespan-reducing behaviors mandatory, to discourage people from living more than their fair share of years.
I wouldn't go that far, but it is reasonable to tax those things in order to internalize that cost to the individual. The trick is getting the politicians to spend the tax mitigating the effects instead of selling favors.
Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but don't forget that Britain is also a country with socialized pensions. Dying shortly after retirement might even reduce the overall financial burden on the public.
And this kind of financial view ignores that the whole purpose of doing something collectively is to support what the collective, on average, _wants_ to do. It makes no sense to apply some supposedly objective standard of how people should lead their lives.
People can do whatever they want in the UK when it comes to healthcare - you can go to the NHS or go private if you want. Nobody makes you go to an NHS hospital.
Of course, what you can't opt out of is the tax bill that pays for the NHS - but as the NHS is reasonably efficient I don't mind paying for it if it means that everyone in the country has access to decent health care.
Of course, people might not be able to do everything they want without socialized medicine, whether it's because they can't afford the risk, privatized medicine costs too much, etc. A liberty principle doesn't cut evenly one way or the other on this issue.
