Note that under the ACA, chronic health problems caused by smoking will no longer result in a higher premium, like all preexisting conditions. Looks to me like the smoking surcharge is meant to balance the (actuarially) known extra health care costs of smokers. Some smokers may pay more if they've avoided health problems, but I'll bet heavy smokers who do suffer self-inflicted wounds like emphysema and lung cancer will pay less. A lot less in some cases. This was all mentioned in the fifth and sixth paragraphs of the article.

The ACA doesn't mandate a flat premium for everybody, but it seems to reduce the heavy multiplier caused by circumstance; e.g. the article mentions that age can lead to premiums as much as 3X higher for old fartsus.

One other thing I got from the article worth noting: The smoking premium is at a state's discretion, with a maximum of 50% but states have discretion to use a lower figure. Hey hey hey states rights and Federalism! Yay!

I'll bet in the 26 or so states dominated by Republicans--the ones who've opted out of everything they can-- there won't be a smoking penalty.

Or maybe there will be, if they continue to try to make people artificially unhappy with ObamaCare.

It really doesn't sound all that sinister, Rob.