Posted on 09/10/2007 5:46:53 AM PDT by Hydroshock
CINCINNATI - First they tried nudging. Now companies are penalizing workers who have high health risks such as obesity and high blood pressure or cholesterol as insurance costs climb.
Lee Morrison, 51, doesn’t mind the push, which came in the form of added insurance charges from his employer, Western & Southern Financial Group.
“I knew if I wanted to be healthier and pay less, it was up to me to do something about it,” said Morrison, who has lost 54 pounds and lowered his body mass index enough to earn refunds the past two years.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Ping
Well, technically, it’s presonal responsibility. If you’re full of unhealthy habits, don’t expect the rest of us to pay for your unhealthy lifestyle. But it should be a choice. You wanna smoke, no problem, pay extra in health insurance. Wanna eat steak and mashed potatoes all the time and have high cholesterol (like myself), expect to pay more for health care.
Simple economics.
I wonder if MSNBC would have written such a glowing review if employers were viewing homosexual behavior as a health risk and penalizing employees accordingly.
Further evidence (if any were needed) that we need the tax break for insurance premiums and health costs transferred from employers to individuals.
It would solve a whole helluva lot of problems right there. Take a ball and chain off american business, create real health insurance “portability,” and eliminate most—if not all—incentive towards “ageism” in the workplace and snooping into employee health histories.
Now all we need are some politicians (beginning with our current president) to show some guts and determination and start flogging this to the public at every opportunity.
If you live in a hurricane zone (e.g.,Florida) you pay higher homeowner's insurance premiums.If you're a skydiver you pay higher life insurance premiums.So if you're a smoker....
“Simple economics.”
Is it really? Consider post 4.
This strikes at the heart of the problem of increasing health costs in the United States.
“Don’t smoke. That’s all. Just don’t smoke.”
-—Yul Brynner
Another reason to de-link insurance and employment.
I can't say as I particularly like this. But, I understand the logic behind it.
Unreal.
It may not even be legal.
Try proposing that sex deviates or drug users paying more and you'll be charged with a "hate crime" !
Smokers are drug users. Which makes your post more pertinent than you intended.
You forgot to list the perverts and AIDS.
You also forgot the Beached Whales.
You forgot those engages in risky hobbies.
Most of all, you forgot that all those groups don't pay a special tax no one else does, adding up to billions, so far...
Simple economics.
Simple fairness.
Is there really a hate-crime associated with drug users?
For homosexuals the penalty would have to be based on the actual act, rather than who it was with. Plenty of heterosexuals engage in the same practices, and they would need to be penalized as well. Otherwise it would be considered discriminatory.
My simple question is who is to judge these things?
I don’t like anything that’s left to the subjective whim of any group.
On the flip side, there are plenty of “Health Conscious” people who are at the doctor’s all the time, and then there are people like me who only go to the doctor when it’s completely needed.
But I smoke, so I should pay greater premiums even though my benefits use is far less than most?
This is why I don’t like ideas like this, if it was based on actual use, that would be a different story.
Just like car insurance, don’t increase a persons premiums until they show that they make excessive use of it.
Just wait till they go after coffee and all that nasty caffeine.
If the insurers and employers had perfect knowledge, this would be reasonable, but they don't.
High cholesterol or triglycerides is not always a choice. Nor is it clear that the current evils tied to high cholestorol should be tied to high cholesterol. See:
And
High cholesterol may protect against infections and atherosclerosis
And
Blood cholesterol has nothing to do with atherosclerosis
And
We really don't know enough about the cholesterol or tricglyceride metabolisms to call them a 'life style choice'. And the current fix-it statin drugs have severe problems. They can cause lupus, they can cause memory loss (recent headlines about zocor).
If we were talking about life style choices like using cocaine, you have a more provable point. Otherwise, I worry about the insurance companies leading a witch hunt against real health trouble that is expensive to treat, but don't have a clear cause so can be denigrated as a 'life style choice'.
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