Posted on 12/05/2007 6:59:49 AM PST by BenLurkin
In an effort to motivate workers to kick unhealthy habits, U.S. companies are hitting them where it hurts: in their wallets.
Employers who provide health insurance often use financial incentives, such as contributions toward premiums, to encourage workers to participate in wellness programs like smoking-cessation courses.
Now some employers are wielding a stick as well as a carrot. Employees at some companies who are overweight, smoke, or have high cholesterol, for instance, and who don't participate in supplementary wellness programs, will pay more for health insurance. In extreme cases, employees' insurance deductibles could rise by $2,000.
"The bottom line," says Tom Parry, president of the Integrated Benefits Institute, a nonprofit focused on health issues, "is that employers want to see results."
But meddling in workers' lifestyles through financial penalties risks lawsuits, say some consultants and lawyers. Indeed, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says it is looking into wellness programs to see if they sometimes violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
How will HillaryCare deal with lifestyle choices?
It took 4 years after I quit smoking before I could even THINK about buying insurance on myself. Cost prohibitive.
Under National Healthcare, there’s no incentive to live a healthy lifestyle.
The Gubmint will fix you.
I’d expect something like that from HillryCare.
The solution to the healthcare crisis is so simple and it will never be tried. Go back to the system we had 50 years ago.
Make everybody responsible for their own health care.
The system we have now gives the illusion that health care is free. The insurance company or your employer takes care of it. So who cares how much it costs. Basic economics, basic human nature.
On the other hand, everyone has to pay for their own home repairs. As a result, we price shop, we do some repairs on our own, we do preventative maintenance. We still have insurance for major disasters but normal repairs are not covered.
And here’s my prediction for the future: The government will force a national health care system on us, like what they have in Britain. And like Britain, the fat, the smokers, etc. will not get covered (but they’ll still pay the tax). Then private insurance and private hospitals will rise up and supply the health care needs of the wealthy. And zen-like, everything will be as it was before except with higher taxes.
It would be nice if there was an option to forgo their insurance/benefit package.
An option to be paid .75 or 1.00 more per hour and not accept their insurance/benefit program would be a great move toward freedom and liberty.
Yeah, yeah...not gonna happen.
What a novel concept!!! Glad to see you live up to your nick. ;*)
Twenty years ago I was self-insured for $80.00 per month with an 80/20 plan. I have no idea how much it would cost to insure myself today.
This won't last long. Has a disparate impact on women and minorities. Lawsuits on the way.
Let’s scrap employer-provided health care. We all get our own and problem solved.
Here’s what I support:
-no more employer provided healthcare
-the increased competition will create affordable insurance plans of all types, where most people with reasonable means would choose to get plans that they pay for office visits but major surgeries are covered by the insurance
-that, with a combination of Health Savings Accounts, is the way to go
????? So insurance companies are gonna charge you the same premium if you're 50 pounds overweight,smoke like a chimney,have untreated high blood pressure or have diabetes (particularly weight related diabetes) than they would if you're at a perfect weight,don't smoke,have normal blood pressure (with or without treatment) and have no diabetes?
I realize it’s not that easy. But, people who smoke CAN get life insurance...
The problem there is that whole “pre-existing condition” bullsh*t that they do.
The fact is almost NOBODY can afford a six-figure surgery on something and if an insurance company refuses to cover it, the person either dies or goes so deep into debt they go bankrupt and the surgeon still doesn’t get paid.
We see a version of this story every 3 months.
Crackdown on smokers, trans fat, whatever. Blah, blah.
This is true.It's also true that smokers can get medical insurance and that skydivers can get life insurance.
The problem there is that whole “pre-existing condition” bullsh*t that they do.
I'd be willing to bet that the "typical" smoker costs a health insurer more...perhaps much more....over,say,a twenty year period than does the "typical" non smoker over that same period.And I'd also bet that the "typical" skydiver is a much poorer life insurance risk (and health insurance risk) than is the "typical" non sky diver.So who should pay more for life/health insurance?
“-no more employer provided healthcare”
Drop the tax deduction for employer paid health plans and the health care crisis goes away in less than a decade.
The extremely wealthy already hire their own private physicians who are on their personal payroll and work only for them and their family members.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.