If someone makes bad choices I shouldn't be penalized for it. If those at a higher risk paid more for health cover, it would theoretically reduce the cost for other people. It's a slippery slope. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". And people who drive more than others, people who work 3 jobs, people who don't work enough, people who drink too much, those that don't drink enough. Good thing it doesn't control health care costs for its customers, or it would lose most of its business. Just because someone is living large doesn't mean that it is by choice nor unhealthy. Microenvironment May Predict Sustained MRD Negativity in Newly Diagnosed Myeloma, Promise of CTCs in Metastatic Breast Cancer Management. Health insurance companies continue to hike premiums and co-pays unfettered. For overweight people, it depends on case by case! Customer Service. If they reinstated it and jacked the rates for unhealthy people it might do a world of good all around. When you apply for health insurance, you are required to report whether or not you are a smoker. I run and workout quite a bit and in physical shape, but according to Body Mass Index, I'm considered obese. Fiscal cliff = Thelma & Louise? Should smokers pay more for health insurance? More importantly, for the purposes of this post, when surcharges arose in 2014, there was a pretty steep decline in the percent of smokers who purchased insurance. How about people with traffic tickets or accidents? People are already having to pay to much, and if you already have something such as diabetes you pay more.All I see is greed and another way to make people pay. In the case of weight gain I'm not so sure that can all be attributed to bad behavior. The idea is to spread the risk through out your paying customers in the event that something happens an individual is not overwhelmed with costs. $ + tax If you get a lot of speeding/reckless driving tickets or accidents you paay more for auto insurrance-same principle. People should pay extra for these procliviites. The reason for the move has come because companies are saying smokers cost them more money in medical costs and so the extra cost is just being passed down. But I don't think that's where the tax is going. August 24, 2021. Whether it's one day, one month, or one year, it's a cause for celebration. Isn't it time somebody DONE somthing about this stuff ?! Instead, we should discourage them from smoking. Since fat people and smokers will die at an earlier age no need to pay more for insurance, since they wont be paying for it much longer. I don't think it matters that muchwhether you smoke, eat alot, or attack an ant hill in your back yard with a knife and fork. Offering health insurance is a choice employeers can make, so why should employeers have to to pay more for an employee who knowingly chose to live a unhealthy lifestyle? If they can pay for their smoking, there is no way they can not pay for their additional cost of their own health care, if they can kill them selves with money why to be burden other people who lives healthy life style. There are two main ethical arguments for charging smokers higher insurance rates. Or are light-skinned and prone to sun burns? In The Cure for Politicized Pediatric Gender Care, Moti Gorin argues that a U.S.-based systematic review, conducted by a trusted major medical organization such as the National Institutes of Health or the National Academy of Medicine, is needed to develop consistent standards for pediatric gender care. So if your reckless with your health then you should pay more, When will man move to his next level of consciousness and realize we're all in this together ? Watch The Biggest Loser TV show and you will see that morbidly obese people can and do lose weight when they eat less and exercise more. Clearly, more research is needed on the relationship between financial incentives and smoking cessation. After all they are more likely to have higher health care costs! No!! Or a family history of pancreatic cancer? I overheard a pharmaceutical rep entice him with all kinds of freebies to push her drugs. I have always thought it odd that smokers are so shunned, at least in part because of the health problems and costs they bring, while the wilfully overweight are victims of the fast food industry. Of course anyone that eats fast food, or any fried or unhealthy food would need to pay more. Instead of punishing people, why not reward them? Those who profit from the illness of others have convinced the media that their claims are legitimate, that their goals are lofty, that their aim is health (!!! Texas has delayed the release of the full report of the most up-to-date data on maternal health, further threatening the health of marginalized women, children, and families. You may opt-out by. Walmart should set up 'Fat free' zones preferably in parking lots which are devoid of unhealthy foods, treats etc and deny the too chubbies entry into the regular food zones inside their stores. I excersize daily and I have a positive outlook on life. However, this smoking surcharge makes the crucial assumption that continuing to smoke is a choice. Why should all of us pay for excess by others? A study of 20,000 employees showed that smokers had more hospital visits per 1,000 (124 versus 76), had a longer average length of stay (6.5 versus 5 days) and made six more visits to health care facilities per year than non-smokers. Sure. Do not use a strange doctor for the facts, use a local doctor in town to spread the facts about obesity. The debate continues, because ultimately smoking is a voluntary act that undoubtedly affects individual health and, in turn, the public and private healthcare system. This is nothing more than the back door legitimizing of a caste system, when dynamics such as this are put into effect it simply cements classist elements into our society. How were we duped and what can we do about the opioid overdose crisis? We have been paying more for our health care for several years because we smoke. What do people claim they do but in reality they dont? Every month, you calculate what you might have spent on health insurance had the individual been a smoker or obese and give them half. A growing number of employers are starting to apply surcharges for smokers, says Lisa Weston, director of wellness promotion for Bagnall, a member of United Benefits Advisors, in Phoenix. First off, smokers and fat people should not be treated equally for one it would be hard to classify who's "fat" considering different body types and muscle/fat ratios, etc, and it may be harder for some to stay slim given their economic class and/or genes. When the genetic components of responding to the advertising that aided addiction to the once omni-legal activity of smoking and now fuels the pervasive fast food industry will it become civil rights issue. As the fight against tobacco continues to evolve, so should our policy ideas. It's about time that we are made to be accountable for our actions. Weston gives this example: Say, for instance, your health insurance benefits cost the company $1,000 a month. As a fat person who hasn't lost a pound since August 5th, there's more to it. How would you feel about riding in a car that drives itself? I excersise every day, eat healthy and take care of myself. These effects arent limited to the person sucking on the cigarette, either exposure to second hand smokeis also problematic. Should you die, the insurance company pays the death benefit to your chosen beneficiary. Yes Yes yes and More more more! These people are choosing to eat more than they burn. It is only fair that those who have negative behavior pay more for their health care. The idea is simple: smokers have the right to smoke, but not the right to pass on the increased cost of their healthcare to others. That one's a bit harder because while being overweight, such as gross obesity, is a health issue, being overweight is relative and doesn't have as close a correlative relationship to health as smoking does. Futhermore, how can anyone say this would hurt poor folks when ciggarettes are $6 per pack, just 1 pack a day is $180 a month they could use for better food or a gym membership. This is simply the legitimizing, and establishing of a class system here in the U.S. via the Health Care system! There are too many things that can cause one's life to be shortened. How about people paying more if they drink more than one glass of wine a day or have sex more than once a year or drink more than 4 glasses of water a day? why are "the poor" smoking anyway? But that's a story for another day. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Yes, they should pay more. That's why we have tobacco tax. It never ends. Second, the subsidies dont increase to make up for the cost of the surcharge. Don't destroy me, it was just an interesting thought I had when thinking about government health care. And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment. Until age 56, obese people had the highest health care expenditures, but in older age groups smokers had the highest costs. His trial work has involved virtually all areas of labor and employment practice, including employment discrimination, harassment, wage and hour, wrongful discharge, FMLA, public accommodation under the ADA and labor litigation. No. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Lastly I don't want to hear about poor people being harmed by this. How do I sign up for Medicare when I turn 65? over- worriers, those who don't worry enough. If we begin to separate people because of diseases, it might begin to punish people with costly diseases which they could not have prevented like Type one diabetes, Parkinson's, most cancers etc. That is the right solution, not charging people more for health insurance because they have a problem. In most cases, employees could qualify by participating in a wellness program or a smoking cessation class. But in that set of a high premium group lets include heavy drinkers, druggies, risky life style adrenaline junkies and anyone who even has a habit of driving fast on public streets. a day?!?!?! For your bank account? However, lying is fraud, and you can be denied coverage if you misrepresent yourself. Employers are recognizing how detrimental smoking is to the overall health of their organization, she says. If they are lazy and indulge themselves with bad food and refuse to change that! Insurance comp. The Affordable Care Act allows insurance companies to charge smokers up to 50% more for premiums. Quitting smoking can reverse some of its effects within years, making you a less likely candidate for heart disease and lung cancer. Then why shouldn't healthcare be based on fitness level? Sometimes you need a kick in the pants to get going. Thanks Bush and Obama, before you two we had a Constitution and Bill of Rights. when they need their Health Insurance". They already spend more money, on cigs and food, than I do. Education is a better tactic by health care companies. So lets use the corporations who stretch across the states to implement this and maybe we can finally get our overweight problem under control. The idea is also dead wrong. So, the people known as "corporations" are free to lie, stretch the truth and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get people, even children, to want cigarettes, sugar and grease. Or. Only if drunks & drug addicts will pay more. We should not discourage smokers from getting insurance. Obviously, but the mere mention of it in this country means you must be a communist, because you're taking money from one group and giving it to another. These unhealthy choices in life ( yes, being fat is a choicenot a disease) deserve consequences. Why would they stop there? There should be more places where only smokers can smoke freely. *Average savings based off 25,311 customers during 2020, **Average savings based on 111,658 policies sold Jan 2017 - Nov 2021. Charging a higher premium for established smokers will either at best encourage people to stop smoking immediately in order to access health insurance or at worst deter smokers from signing up for health insurance in the first place. Why would anybody else have to pay for my poor choices? CCA is a credit rep (Credit Representative Number 519886) of Alternative Media Pty Ltd (ACL Number 486326), please see our Credit Guide. Fortunately, theres a simple solution to the problem. Loss prevention, however, reserves care for those who need it. If they choose to continue these very destructive practices they have no one to blame but them selves! Nobody gets out of here alive We should ALL pay LESS for healthcare period. Or a family history of colon cancer? Your nonsmoking colleague might pay nothing. (As usual, check state and local laws to be sure.) Insurance companies argue that its only fair to charge tobacco users more. As for a flat tax, I mean fat tax, ask New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. How about a history of premature births or child development problems in the family? For individual health plans the kind you buy on your own the Affordable Care Act lets insurance companies charge 50 percent higher premiums for smokers than nonsmokers. This guide is opinion only and should not be taken as medical or financial advice. The GOP would never accept a such an un-American thing as a tax increase on these people. Sign upfor free. I realize this is a difficult area to try to control as some activites are based on genetic predisposition, etc. Studies have shown thatmonetary incentivescan significantly increase smoking cessation. 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