No Freedom to Be Fat?

John Fund, not outlandishly, sees an Orwellian danger at the intersection of nationalized healthcare and nanny-state impulses like NYC's proposed trans-fat ban. From Saturday's Journal Editiorial Report:

Fund: Well, New York City's Health Department, the food bullies, are going to tell every restaurant in the city, you can no longer use trans-fats, which is a way of cooking a lot of food. Now, over half of New York restaurants don't use it already. But they're going to take away the consumer choice and say no more flaky pastries, no more crunchy french fries. Chicago is about to do the same. I simply say this is what's going to happen if we ever have national health care. We are going to see a lot of behavioral modification because it's the only way the government is going to be able to cut down on health-care costs. This is the first step.

Gigot: So when the government pays for health care, it's only a matter of time before government starts telling you how to live and how to eat?

Fund: No health care unless you lose that weight.

Donny Baseball on 2/24/06: "Maybe freedom means being able to be a fat, artery-clogged slob who gets winded climbing stairs if one so chooses."

The economic arguments against state-run healthcare have primacy, but this libertarian concern will likely become more prominent.