Annals of Health Law
STRATEGY AGAINST SMOKING
which they cannot dispose of right away but only after a substantial time
period of non-smoking. Stimulating the participants to invest a larger
amount of their capital based on the overconfidence227 in their ability to quit
smoking will further enhance the effects of loss aversion.
2. Review and Verification of Smoking Status
The model for smoking cessation poses the risk of misuse in two ways.
First, as in the model against smoking initiation, participants might falsely
claim that they have not been smoking. Second, people might try to
deceive the program about their smoking status, for instance by
exaggerating their smoking to be eligible for Group A rewards or to
participate in the model at all. The safeguard against the former type of
misuse can be structured similarly to the one described above.228 The
application of chemical tests will be less feasible, as the possibility of
testing a vast number of participants in schools is no longer available.
Employers may be willing to cover a significant percentage of the testing.
However, private employers (unlike teachers in public schools) may have
their own interest in helping their employees to be verified as non-smokers,
which could cause them to tamper with the test results. A potential reason
might be, amongst others, hesitation to deteriorate the work climate or the
desire to pay lower health insurance premiums for the workers. By
controlling the test dates and informing employers only on the day of the
test, the ITAA could at least make such attempts more difficult. The
imminent criminal liability should function as a further deterrent. The
assignment of government-employed testers would involve a smaller risk of
abuse, but would require substantial funds that are needed elsewhere.
Besides biochemical testing and the threat of criminal liability, controlling
tobacco sales and distribution via credit card statements229 is again
suggested to ensure a reliable review and verification process.
227.
See supra Part II. C. 1.c.
See supra Part III. A. 2.
See supra Part III. A. 2.b.
