Check Yo self.
Posted on 07/29/2007 10:08:11 AM PDT by BGHater
To hold down medical costs, some firms are penalizing workers who are overweight or don't meet health guidelines.
Looking for new ways to trim the fat and boost workers' health, some employers are starting to make overweight employees pay if they don't slim down.
Others, citing growing medical costs tied to obesity, are offering fit workers lucrative incentives that shave thousands of dollars a year off healthcare premiums.
In one of the boldest moves yet, an Indiana-based hospital chain last month said it decided on the stick rather than the carrot. Starting in 2009, Clarian Health Partners will charge employees as much as $30 every two weeks unless they meet weight, cholesterol and blood-pressure guidelines that the company deems healthy.
"At first, I was mad when I thought I would be charged $30 for being overweight," said Courtney Jackson, 28, a customer service representative at Clarian. "But when I found out it was going to be broken into segments — like just $10 for being overweight — it sounded better."
Jackson said she was going to try to slim down before the plan took effect. "If I still have weight to lose when it starts," she said, "I'll deserve to pay the $10."
Employers are getting serious about penalizing workers "because they've run out of other options" said Joe Marlowe, senior vice president at Aon Consulting, a national benefits consulting firm.
Locally, the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has 90,000 employees, is researching financial incentives and disincentives to help bring down healthcare costs.
UnitedHealthcare, a nationwide insurer, introduced a plan this month that, for a typical family, includes a $5,000 yearly deductible that can be reduced to $1,000 if an employee isn't obese and doesn't smoke.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Check Yo self.
ping
That chart would be better labelled, “Determining Obesity TODAY.”
The standards keep changing according to prevailing fashion.
Many people that are fit, still fall into the overweight chart. I just checked my husband’s weight/height ratio and he would be listed as overweight, yet he exercises everyday and doesn’t have an inch of fat on him. Muscle weighs more than fat, so a well muscled person will appear to be overweight according to that chart.
Here comes the fat patrol. Next they’ll put video monitors in breakrooms to check what you’re eating.
Hmmmmm, and if the weight gain is tied to medications that you are required to take for other medical conditions???
I see a lawsuit in the making.
Next: monitoring your blood pressure over the Internet as you work...
Employees to get an online checkup
Care provider, EMC will test a program to cut health costs
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/03/employees_to_get_an_online_checkup/
All of these things are about control.
I wonder if this is still the USA?
Land of the free, hardly.
hahahaha! This is for all the fat people who thought it would be a good idea if insurance companies charged workers who smoke more in premiums.
I’m curious, if an employee is a male active homosexual will he be told to ‘change his lifestyle’ or risk losing his insurance? The chances of his contracting AIDS is likely just as high as any fat person developing a serious illness.
Just recently I was in a hospital that is big on heart and lung health. Their big bug-a-boo is of course smoking but their techs and some nurses are anywhere from 20, 40, to 50 pounds or more over weight, I never saw as many obese people in one place...another fault is their hair is often long and not pulled back leaving it hanging into where a wound is or into the patients food......This article is long over due. The next time you are at a Mall, count the fit people you see……you will be surprised at how few there are.
Charging them if they don’t meet BP and cholesterol goals? Not everyone can keep those low, even with meds, even at a normal weight.
What’s next, cancer control goals?
Mrs VS
I usually see Fast food wrappers and such but not fit type food wrappers. Probably just only the amount of fast food places around but wonder if people who take good care of their body also don’t litter as much.
It would be better to set the rate based on a high risk class, and offer discounts for (subscriber controllable) risk reducing behaviors, like smoking cessation, weight optimization (anorexics are far riskier than overweight individuals), and body mass index optimization (circulatory system risk reduction).
That would turn a “stick” into a “carrot”. Those who feel excessively ‘managed’ by such a program should opt out of the group insurance and either “go bare” or buy a large deductible personal policy to cover catastrophic risk. Those who are otherwise un-insurable can make preparations for their (probable) early departure from this life. Or they can vote for politicians who will impose “universal health care” and then ration care with waiting lines, which will ultimately produce the same results for those who are uninsurable risks: early death.
“So teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
ROFL!! I love it!
Mark
Back in the good ole days companies searched desparately for ways to compensate people without increasing their salaries.
Enter the corporate healthcare premium. With their large group purchasing power, they could insure their workers at far less cost than to give them all a raise.
So dental and medical became the byword for a good job. (The pay ain't so great, but at least I have dental and medical)
Now, after the inevitable has occurred and costs balloon in all directions, they seek a new way to reduce or eliminate them.
Welcome to the wonderful world of ersatz prosperity.
Best regards,
I know what you mean... At 6'4, the chart has 185# as "healthy." Let me tell you, the last time I was at 185, my Dr was seriously thinking about hospitalizing me: I had a terrible flare-up in Crohns disease in my esophagus, and was barely able to eat or drink for nearly 3 weeks. In order to even drink a glass of water, I needed to take a few large gulps of "viscous lidocane," a topical anesthetic, and even then, it was terribly painful. My "normal," healthy weight was 220#, and at 185, my ribs and hip bones were quite pronounced.
Mark
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