Sitting behind a desk as an adult, or behind the computer as a child is our biggest problem. That goes against everything the Grand Old Party stands for. Yes. If these groups can't absorb the increased costs, the let the grand champions of individual freedom and responsibility, the Republican and Tea Parties, pay for it since they don't want the government doing it through health care reform, and not being in either group I don't want to pay higher rates to cover those costs. Exercise at home. Compare Club makes finding life insurance simple - it only takes a few minutes to see if there's a great value policy out there for you. It says smokers consume about 25% more health care services than nonsmokers. No. Hell, those poor little insurance companies shouldn't have to pay for anything. Obviously they have higher medical costs associated with the ills that come with smoking. Australia: We saved our average customer $320* on their average annual premium! Children and adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria receive radically different treatments depending on where they live. Tagged as: Don't they already pay more due the fact that they need more health care than a healthy person and therefore accumulate more medical bills than a healthy person? However, this smoking surcharge makes the crucial assumption that continuing to smoke is a choice. I recently watched obese administrative people at a healthcare facility in Massachusetts shovel potato chips and donuts into their fat faces, and I couldn't help but wonder how someone who works in healthcare could be so oblivious to be so self-destructive. You may change your billing preferences at any time in the Customer Center or call People who use more healthcare resources because of a poor lifestyle choice such as smoking or poor diet should pay more. But this is not true. Add to prior comment: Employers, however, have no business even asking these questions and companies should be banned from forcing them to. No. The Netherlands still has 3.1 million smokers, of whom 465,000 smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day. On top of that just tell me how to live my life too. No JackThat`s just wrong!!!! This site uses cookies. Doug. Smoking tobacco increases your risk of heart disease, lung disease, and other health problems. As a reformed smoker it was hard to quit, but I now save a ton of money by not smoking at 10 bucks a pack. There, I saw firsthand the incredibly high rate of smoking in a population that was mostly hidden from me in my everyday life. Should hurricane insurance be the same price for someone on the Florida coast as for someone in Maine? Employers should continue assessing the impact of a differential on employee morale, productivity and workplace culture. Jack, when we start down this road of charging people higher premiums based on the choices they make where does it end. If I wasn't so blessed, I couldn't afford medical insurance at all. Is that what we want for healthcare? First, the surcharge makes insurance more expensive, meaning it is harder for people to afford. Non-smokers in particular think that smokers should pay higher health insurance premiums: 65 percent of non-smokers expressed this opinion, compared with 38 percent of people who smoke only occasionally and 18 percent of those who smoke daily. And all program materials must disclose the availability of the alternative. Absolutely they should. Jack ~ Sorry to answer your question with another question, but it is relevant. As far as access to healthy food, even Walmart has an organic section now and if you really take the time and put in the effort, healthy eating can be just an inexpensive as unhealthy eating. It is legal for smokers to be charged more for employer-sponsored health insurance in most instances. Kytles practice also involves drafting affirmative action plans and he has represented employers in hundreds of affirmative action audits conducted by the OFCCP. Compare Club does not compare all products in the market. 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. Jack, maybe you should ask Herman Cain's campaign Chief of Staff Mark Block if smoker's should pay more- he could do a cheap ad against it. Multiply the number of packs you smoke in a week by the cost of cigarettes to find out how much you can save by not smoking. Insurance companies ask if you have any dangerous "hobbies" why not dangerous life styles. Everyone keeps complaining about the health care, but don't take efforts to eat correctly and they know they should! Hi Jack. Why should we pay for other people's liabilities? If you are in a dangerous occupation either you or your employer gets a larger bill. simply put, yes. 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. In the whole debate about rising health care costs we have been avoiding the issue of personal responsibility yes people who make an effort to live a healthy life should be rewarded with lower insurace premiums. If a union is in the picture, a differential would probably be a mandatory subject of bargaining. Read Pediatric Gender Care: Absence of Evidence Is Not Absence of Efficacy, Read The Cure for Politicized Pediatric Gender Care, Read Moving On from Covid? Doctors charge whatever exorbitant price they want, and have NO incentive to make us well because then, theyd lose money. Where would it end? The idea that poor people will be hurt by this is ridiculous. Smokers should pay for their own health costs. Why stop at smokers and the obese. However, not everyone agrees that this should be the case. smokers and overweight individuals (among many others) require more healthcare services and resources than healthy individuals. Fat, smokers, too skinny, birth defects, pimples. everyone should pay more, right? I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. Starting next year, Wal-Mart will charge employees who smoke higher premiums, along with offering a free program to help them quit. This is not about poor genes. as for fat people, for many, like some of my wife's relatives, it's a medical condition and being charged more for healthcare would be a "double wammy". Although my company does not provide anything to assist me with these items, there is plenty of free and low cost assistance on both items. Think of the savings in paperwork. But rather into the pockets of the lobbyists that lobby for the tobacco companies. No!! The tobacco industry needs 5,000 new smokers every day to stay afloat. Let's give people who smoke free tobacco-company-paid health insurance. That makes them more expensive, and gives their users more of a reasons to quit. These folks made the decision to smoke, so they should pay more. Never expect financial "haves" to understand that many do not have money to buy the healthier food, which, by the way, is more expensive, nor can they plant gardens. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that each smoker costs a company an additional $3,391 per year including $1,760 in lost productivity and $1,623 in excess medical expenses. This is a BETA experience. It's about personal responsibility. Or a family history of pancreatic cancer? 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. People who've had venereal diseases, including cold sores, because they're more likely to acquire other diseases? Let me get this straight, "the not poor" buy "the poor" food, while "the poor" buy cigarettes. Quit smoking; start working out. Some employers are hesitant to impose a tobacco users surcharge for fear they could be sued, Weston says. Sign upfor free. A massive wave of Covid infections has begun now that China has ended much of its zero Covid policy. Furthermore, since most people who smoke are of lower income, this results in an additional barrier to coverage when they have to pay an extra premium to receive coverage. Of course anyone that eats fast food, or any fried or unhealthy food would need to pay more. Charging individuals rates based on their risk helps to ensure that money paid out from the pool will not exceed money paid into the pool. Why not make health insurance premiums lower for those that take steps to improve their health? Figure out how much you'll save. They should foot the bill for the fat and un-healthy. I don't say this to punish smokers, I say it to get tobacco off the market so it will not impact the lives of today's children. Should fat people and smokers pay more for healthcare insurance? Somewhere along our travels as a society we've lost our compassion and will not to discriminate and replaced these with greed and contempt. Insurance is collective protection against risk. Then we get into a whole debate over which stupid behavior deserves discounted healthcare and which doesn't. Tobacco use for this purpose is defined as any self-reported tobacco use four or more times a week within the past six months. Which Studies Will be Practice Changing in Metastatic Breast Cancer? CCA is a credit rep (Credit Representative Number 519886) of Alternative Media Pty Ltd (ACL Number 486326), please see our Credit Guide. Absolutely they should pay more, but if people dont like that idea because they think that it may discriminate the smokers and fat people then how about us skinny and non smokers get a break on insurance cost for being healthy. Weston gives this example: Say, for instance, your health insurance benefits cost the company $1,000 a month. Wal-Mart, which insures more than 1 million people, is one such company. I agree with everything except for your last sentence. Smoking and the lack of eating healthy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a choice everyone can make. Smokers are more likely to wind up in hospital as a direct result of their smoking habit; in fact, an estimated 19,000 Australians die each year as a result of smoking. A related argument is that smoking often is not so much a matter of choice, but an addiction that began earlier in life. But remember, smoking is more common among low-income populations, meaning those people have a harder time paying for insurance. He has a brain tumor. Get fat on steroids from their asthama? Yes, Jack. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air. Lastly I don't want to hear about poor people being harmed by this. Health insurance companies are beginning to act more and more like banks. Cost of health care must be addressed, everyone should be required to purchase insurance. If I chose to remain fat by following an unhealthy lifestyle then I should pay the cost for the consequences. This objection is not very persuasive, however, because financial penalties do not significantly limit personal freedom. August 24, 2021. And also the health care system could be smokers already pay more in excise taxes than the social costs of their habits. 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. 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. Please see our FSG. Good luck in getting that bit of reality dealt with. Yes Jack, this is what we need. 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. The bottom line is when you combine these problems with the fact that we work too much as a society, and leave little time for physical activity and recreation , we have a big problem. 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. This is why we need the health care reform good or bad is better than none. yu hve people tht are nt big n hve mre medical problems than them.as for smoker yu no they read the warning n America is stubborn abt taken advice. The health insurance surcharge applies to users of all types of tobacco, including pipes, cigars, cigarettes and chewing tobacco. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Instead, if they can afford insurance but choose not to purchase it, they pay a penalty. This should be pro-rated, if you need more insurance you should pay more. 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. Jack, that may be the dumbest question I've ever heard. Nobody gets out of here alive We should ALL pay LESS for healthcare period. Anyone that drinks excessively. Ethics Consult: Potentially Hasten Baby's Death to Ease Suffering? Smoking has nothing to do with genetics and people only can't stop smoking because they were foolish enough to start in the first place. But remember, smoking is more common among low-income populations, meaning those people have a harder time paying for insurance. Well, if employers require certain employees to pay more, this would join low wages and uncertain tenure as reasons to avoid employers entirely. Whats a company secret you can share now that you dont What quietly went away without anyone noticing? The ABS found that smoking causes 80% of lung cancer deaths and 20% of overall cancer deaths. Why not if your bad habit increases your health care costs. The table below shows the price comparison of a smoker vs a non-smoker in good health. As a reformed Republican, its not fair. Last month, I rotated in the Bronx at a federally qualified health center. Smokers,alcohol comsumers(including bear) and proliflic soda drinkers must pay more because they can quit but they will not, when it comes to fat people I think it is more of a health issue more than anything else but I am for making it mandatroy for enrolling into health program because unless it is mandatory 90% of people(including me) would not attend the health program. Not everyone is meant to be a size two. Around 70% of people who have a college degree (or a higher degree), also said they were in support of charging smokers more for health insurance. for charging me more for healthcare. As well as those who are too thin. The explanation for this is simply that smokers are more likely to develop health concerns in the future, and therefore represent a greater risk for insurance companies. Fair is fair! When reviewing offers from external websites or companies, please review their terms and conditions. We do not charge a person more that jay walks and gets hit by a car and we do not charge the Gal that has a child every year more because she gives birth like a rabbit. Why should I continue to support bad behavior by paying for it. The risk is based on numerous factors such as, lifestyle and genetics. Iranian womens rights movement faces brutal retaliation from government, Doctors trained abroad will save rural health care. 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. There are too many things that can cause one's life to be shortened. Fat people and smokers should pay more absolutly. As we will see, too, the harmful effect of these behaviors are not just medically related. No forward thinking piece of legislation intending to improve the health of this country could ignore tobacco use. There's my point. It's only logical, but in liberal politics logic doesn't prevail. then we must determine just what obese means, and to whom. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and I could stand to lose a few pounds. are killing us anyway wth bills n medicine we are always use as the puppets. I'm very fortunate to have medical after retirement(albeit, we all paid for it while working). Smoking and obesity is a free choice. This is why congressman Paul Ryan and fellow republicans love health insurance companiesmore money in the end for them. Calories in minus calories burned should equal zero. If we start down this road than the next thing it would be, anyone with a history of cancer or any other known health problems in their genetic background, would have their Health Care canceled or would have to pay some ridiculous price. The Affordable Care Act allows just four factors to increase premiums: Age, family size, location and tobacco use. Lets just stop this nonsense and enact a law that insurers, mortgage companies and oil companies can garnish our wages. Just take it and cut to the chase. Some of these forgoers pay a penalty, but many others dont. Self-efficacy is essential "Analysis shows . So to those healthy ones out there shouting "YES they should charge".. beware, they may be charging you for breathing fresh air one day! Likewise, the ideal customer for the health insurance companies are those who are perfectly healthy and not in need of insurance. Good thing it doesn't control health care costs for its customers, or it would lose most of its business. Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 4 p.m. Tobacco is addictive, and quitting can be tough. Othersrebutted that suntanning, eating junk food and drinking alcohol also count as voluntary bad habits that can negatively impact on health. 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? 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. Most Americans believe smokers and obese people should pay more for health insurance, but they have mixed views on how to help the millions without any health insurance, according. Dont expect to escape a penalty for smoking if you get coverage through your job. If you include those who consume alcohol in there i will say yes. Prohibition proved that. Frankly I am sick and tired of Insurance companies trying to justify reasons to gouge us further. as for smokers , they no wht will happen to them.. an tht question should been broader n liittle mre respected. Come on, being fat and being a smoker are BOTH addictions and choices, just like a drug addict. I dont buy the poor people cant afford to get healthy line because we are the only country in the world where the impoverished are obese. As long as there are no consequences for these people for their choices why would they change. Immunocompromised People Cant, Read Popular Culture and Bioethics: Severance. Health care costs of smoking are expensive and smoking is reduced more to motivational determinants than to biological factors; the essay, therefore, recommends that smokers pay for their own health costs. Those of us who are short people should be ready. Smoking? Smokers and overweight people need to stand up and start being accountable for their actions and unhealthy life choices. A) Yes! 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. We all know that if we do the right things (exercise, eat properly, stop smoking, drink in moderation and take medications to prevent disease from getting worse) we will all spend less on healthcare. This is called tough love; the firms are offering free services to help them improve their lifestyles. While smokers pay much higher premiums for life cover, they generally do not pay more for health cover. 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. Is any one of us perfect. Anyone can get sick or get cancer, have a horrid wreck and we all should have the same rates. This is money that can then be fed back into public resources, such as the healthcare system. If they participate and make improvements then there is no impact. These effects arent limited to the person sucking on the cigarette, either exposure to second hand smokeis also problematic. I Jack gain weight if I try to live on 500, 1000, or even 1500 calories a day. Life insurance premiums are based on your health risk for insurance providers. Or addicted to prescription medication? is this what we want to teach our kids? Why not include illegal drug users and alcoholics. Why should I pay for other peoples bad choices. I excersize daily and I have a positive outlook on life. Do you really think about these questions before you post? Another thing to keep in mind: although smoking does not affect your health insurance premiums at the moment, it is possible that the rules could change in future. None of us should have to pay anything for health care. The wellness program must satisfy the following four requirements: Another potential legal problem arises from the Americans with Disabilities Acts prohibition against discriminating in benefits with respect to qualified individuals with disabilities. No. People who work in office jobs and sit all day since that's terrible for you? "let the Insurance companies charge anyone a penalty, They are using 25% more insurance, they should be paying 25% more! What's next then? Of course, lowering taxes on the rich, which is essentially stealing money from the next generation, means you're a conservative capitalist. Thoughts? Jack, I understand your question but how can anyone afford to pay more for Health Care? Probably, as long as it does not lead to a denial of care or rates so high that they go uninsured. Fiscal cliff = Thelma & Louise? "My answer is no they should not pay more, they already pay far more than there share of the tax if they smoke, now if they are overly-fat then it is different as they eat through greed and nothing more. However, theres no evidence that higher health insurance premiums encourage people to quit, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation aimed at improving the health care system. E) Probably not. Why are we paying more and getting less? What do the smokers think? While the Affordable Care Act ends the era of denying people with pre-existing conditions access to health care, it allows insurance companies to charge tobacco users up to 50% more for their monthly premiums. Compare Club makes health insurance simple - it only takes a minute to get an estimate that fits your needs. They do not live as long and even getting treatment for those conditions is no fun. The best case scenario for immunocompromised people like me would be universal masking in all public spaces. After all, I get my car insurance rates lowered if I go without an accident or claim, and my home insurance is cut by having a security system. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Well, it sounds like a good idea but what yard stick would be used to determined to measure fatness or does smoking medical weed count. It's not about health, it's about money. The ACA recognizes the increased costs associated with smoking employees by allowing insurers to raise smokers premiums up to 50 percent over those paid by non-smokers. A recent survey found that 2 out of 3 Australians believed that smokers and people with other unhealthy habits should pay more for their health cover. People have known for years that smoking causes a variety of health problems and, especially if these companies are offering programs to assist in quitting, there is no reason nowadays to still be partaking. A close examination of the arguments for and against this policy reveals that it is not. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known to man and counseling a patient to quit smoking is one of the most impactful services a doctor can provide. Many Online Journal readers feel strongly that smokers should pay higher insurance premiums than their non-smoking co-workers, and some say penalizing smoking shouldn't stop at health insurance. Why not Jack? It's a slippery slope. Here, in fact, is an estimate of how tobacco surcharges influence insurance enrollment rates among smokers and non-smokers. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Anyone that does any dangerous activities, also. States, however, can set their own rules to reduce or eliminate that surcharge, and 10 so far have chosen to do so. If you're quitting smoking, consider annual renewable term life If you smoke tobacco or cannabis, vape, or chew tobacco, you will pay more for life insurance. You may opt-out by. If they spend more for health insurance, maybe they won't have enough funds for cigarettes or junk food!! RELATED:The surprising reason why more women are smoking than men. they need to be taught a lesson. If someone makes bad choices I shouldn't be penalized for it. They should only be charged more if 1) their habits actually incur measurably more cost, and 2) those individuals without the same habits get a discount. If you drive an expensive or exotic car you pay more for insurance. This is a long term problem that will take 50 years to correct in our society and it begins in the classroom when children our young with mandatory daily courses in health and physical education. Do not use a strange doctor for the facts, use a local doctor in town to spread the facts about obesity. We have been paying more for our health care for several years because we smoke. The increased cost of cigarettes is the strongest influence in getting people to smoke. thank Jack. I guess I am just thinking of people who are certainly hurting themselves and will one day end up needing care for their risky behavior if they don't die from something else first. No, it's just impractical. This is not like people with cancer, etc. As for a flat tax, I mean fat tax, ask New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Its also unclear what happens if you complete a required smoking cessation program at work but do not quit. cy from arlington, va. Check with a financial professional before making any decisions. And while we're at it let's throw in really tall people because you never see any really old really tall people around; and drivers too, because automobile accidents kill more people than just about anything else, don't they? We should not discourage smokers from getting insurance. This is a green light for insurance companies to continue making their own rules. charge higher insurance premiums to employees who smoke, and some companies refuse to hire smokers. Yes, and those with alcohol related diseases. Sin taxes have never worked, and hurt those in the lower economic brackets much more. Weve seen this movie be.
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