Should Governments regulate salt content?

[xxchef]

As a non-smoker, my premiums are less than a smoker's. Insurance companies understand that smoker's will likely have more health problems and are charged a higher premium for their lifestyle choices.

Good point. True for me too. But smoking is bad for everybody who does it (even a little) and also bad for the people around them. Not so for everybody who eats salt - even lots of salt. How would you have the government go about identifying the ~5% of the population who seem to be adversely effected by too much salt, determine what "too much salt" is and then go about setting a higher premium for just them?

It seems to me this is a place for the private sector to go to work. If an insured person develops hypertension (etc) that can be linked to "excessive" salt intake on their part, they should be put on notice by their insurer that the need to a) cut down on that intake now or b) loose their insurance (or start paying a LOT more for coverage).

As govt get deeper involved in health care this gets to be a more complex situation. Perhaps govt should encourage the intake of lots of salt, tobacco, alcoholic beverages and promote risky behaviors of all types to significantly shorten the life spans of The People. Lots of sudden, catastrophic deaths at an early age would be good for the health care system and might just save Social Security!