Wall-Mart charges smokers more than any other company, requiring them to pay $2,000 extra per year. I don't like the idea of making anyone pay more (people pay enough as it is), I think discounts for good behavior would be appropriate. Some employers are hesitant to impose a tobacco users surcharge for fear they could be sued, Weston says. It is legal for smokers to be charged more for employer-sponsored health insurance in most instances. RELATED:The surprising reason why more women are smoking than men. Of those people, two thirds agreed that people who smoke should have to pay higher premiums than non-smokers. A better, but less dramatic solution is to continue an all-out assault on both alcohol abuse and production of food with too much sugar through education, public service, health providers and organizations. Second, even if charging smokers higher insurance rates encourages them to stop smoking, reducing smoking may not save society any money. Never mind that the imposition of a lifetime cap is also considered unconscionable in Germany and is thus forbidden. Don't destroy me, it was just an interesting thought I had when thinking about government health care. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Which Studies Will be Practice Changing in Metastatic Breast Cancer? Why not Jack? The slippery slope of legal assisted suicide and euthanasia. The Affordable Care Act allows just four factors to increase premiums: Age, family size, location and tobacco use. No. Add to prior comment: Employers, however, have no business even asking these questions and companies should be banned from forcing them to. It's not that is it unfair but you need to be responsible. When you apply for health insurance, you are required to report whether or not you are a smoker. These of course probably don't have insurance at all. Obamacare's effect on small business: An unintended consequence? Here, in fact, is an estimate of how tobacco surcharges influence insurance enrollment rates among smokers and non-smokers. Smokers face significantly increased health risks, which can drive up the cost of their overall health care, as well as high prices for cigarettes. A) Yes! Smokers miss an average of 6.16 days of work per year compared to 3.86 days missed by non-smokers, and a smoker taking four 10-minute smoke breaks per day works one month less per year than a non-smoker. Yes, Jack. If you start down that road, there's no stopping. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. So why should healthy people pay subsidize healthcare for unhealthy people? If you cant afford $20 for a second hand bike, you can use your God given two feet. A company would spend more than it'd save by attempting such differentiation. But I am willing to compromise. LOL America. Really do you really think the insurance companies will stop charging more and chose one of us over the other? Second. Specifically, they shouldnt have to pay to subsidize the healthcare costs of people who choose to smoke. Healthy, beautiful people have all the advantages in life. We have no control over these companies, their offers, website content, products/services, or the availability and nature of their products/services. J is a 21-year-old male with multiple disabilities. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. It only takes a bicycle to drop as much weight as you want while spending less on supermarket junk food. A health insurance policyholder with a BMI in the obese range pays 22% more in health insurance premiums than a person with a BMI in the normal range. and people might get healthier. 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. It is a fact that if you leave an unhealthy lifestyle, your lifespan will be shorten and costlier. Yes. These folks made the decision to smoke, so they should pay more. Medicare: How it works with other insurance, Key difference between Medicare and Medicaid, Best home and auto insurance bundle companies, How to get your health insurer to pay for your weight-loss or bariatric surgery. To appreciate the solution, let me expand on the flaws in health insurance surcharges. I feel sorry for my fellow citizens who are not able to fight the system or extract themselves from it. It needs to be a flat rate for everyone. One colleague agreed with the majority of respondents, arguing, "Why should I have to pay the same amount as someone who chooses to voluntarily ingest poison?". Sure. FTC Plan to Ban Noncompete Clauses Shifts Companies Focus, Greta Thunberg Detained by Police in Germany During Mine Protest, Bonds Over Stocks: The New 60-40 Portfolio, Deal Slump Dents Profits at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Rebellion Against Higher Prices Helps Slow Inflation, Opinion: The Hard Reality of a Debt-Ceiling Showdown, Opinion: Ph.D. Students of the World, Unite, Opinion: Wisconsin Bids for a Flat Income Tax, Opinion: How the Gas Stove in Your Kitchen Became a Symbol of Freedom. As for being overweight, it doesn't cost anything to walk either in the mornings or evenings, and staying away from the dingdongs and cheezypoofs might help as well. *Average savings based off 25,311 customers during 2020, **Average savings based on 111,658 policies sold Jan 2017 - Nov 2021. Why should people who make an effort to stay healthy be penalized when people who are willingly and knowingly partaking in detrimental activities pay the same amount. Whether you currently use tobacco or have recently quit, healthcare for smokers is paramount. Health insurers in Germany have conducted studies which have shown that smokers die younger than non-smokers. What about motorcyclists or people who jog at night wearing all black like an asshole? yes. Should health care be a private enterprise? Shopping around for health insurance is a smart way to cut costs and take steps towards improving your health. The Netherlands still has 3.1 million smokers, of whom 465,000 smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day. This stuff is expensive, and I personally don't want to pay for John Doe's chemotherapy when he has smoked for 50 years. 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? I actually fit into both of these catagories and I do agree that the charge should be more. People smoke and never get cancer, people who do not smoke and have cancer, over weight people may be due to other medical problems and they already have problems trying to get insurance. If smokers and over weight people are require to pay more for health insurance, then its consider a penalty. None surpassed Will. These include, but are not limited to: man buns and beards ; whether jam or cream goes first on a scone; the colour of The Dress; and smoking. If you have a poor driving record, drive a sports car, or live in a high-theft area, you're going to pay more for your car insurance than [] Maybe we can answer this by expanding your question: what if a person is an alcoholic? While legal concerns exist, there are compelling reasons to implement a differential for smokers. No need to play big brother by charging people more for health insurance. And, life insurance, too. Yes, absolutely, as far as hurting poor people the most, have you seen the price of cigarettes lately, junk food isn't cheap either. The Unvaccinated Should Pay More For Health Insurance. Though I still occasionally meet someone who smokes, the behavior has mostly retreated from populations of higher socioeconomic status and has burrowed itself and its destruction in low income families. The availability of products compared may change from time to time. Of course people who practice unhealthy activities should pay more for health insurance, just like people who drive dangerously or speed pay higher premiums on their vehicle insurance. 88% of smokers began smoking before age 18. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air. In a society where brand marketing has glorified unhealthy habits including smoking, video games and fast food over the years, it seems as a society we are struggling to correct these mistakes. That translates into $1,250 per household, mostly in taxes and insurance premiums. Doug. Or addicted to prescription medication? Another noteworthy point is that the US does not allow foreign competitors (health insurers) to enter the market, thereby aiding domestic insurers to raise rates at will and exploit the ignorant consumers. Should auto insurance favor safe drivers with discounts? By some sort of body mass formula? Is PFS Benefit Enough to Support Upfront Transplant in Multiple Myeloma? HELLO. Tobacco is addictive, and quitting can be tough. Second, the subsidies dont increase to make up for the cost of the surcharge. Once implemented, the impact of the differential should be monitored to determine if it results in a disparate impact on employees in protected groups such as minorities and specific ethnicities. Running and hiking require no money. 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. Othersrebutted that suntanning, eating junk food and drinking alcohol also count as voluntary bad habits that can negatively impact on health. 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. Why would they stop there? This is simply the legitimizing, and establishing of a class system here in the U.S. via the Health Care system! When insurance companies price smokers out of their products, we all pay. Abstract. 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. ABSOLUTELY! Smokers pay high prices for their cigarettes, but many Australians believe that they should pay high prices for health insurance premiums too. Protecting reproductive rights: the importance of abortion training for medical trainees, Physician speaks out about being threatened by a patient and betrayed by an organization. How about a history of premature births or child development problems in the family? Anti-cancer groups and the tobacco industry have effectively joined forces to prevent some of the new insurance exchanges from implementing a surcharge for smokers. Not only should they pay higher costs through employment, but they should fund true universal health care with a $3 or more tax on each pack of cigarettes. They already spend more money, on cigs and food, than I do. The potential unintended consequences of the Affordable Care Act are unsettling enough, but even without the ACA, employers have been stung by soaring increases in health insurance premiums. Rewarding criminals and people who have no will to be responsible for their lives is what is destroying our Country! It's not about health, it's about money. Sure they should, as long as drinkers and potheads follow suit. Healing hearts: the power of authentic connection in medicine [PODCAST], How to recognize and stop gaslighting in your relationships, Saying goodbye: the tragic impact of COVID-19 on families, A couples journey with a rare neurodegenerative disorder, The importance of a clear contract with your defense counsel in medical malpractice cases, Finding purpose: How physicians can craft meaningful careers in medicine [PODCAST]. 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. Insurance companies argue that its only fair to charge tobacco users more. Voluntary choices are made around individual smoking and eating habits and companies may likewise choose to acknowledge these habits as liabilities. Customer Service. Education is a better tactic by health care companies. 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. These people should absolutely pay more for their healthcare. Take this case before a jury of my peers, and the business or health insurance company that charges more for overweight people will lose the case. It seems unfair to those of us that take care of our health? Why wouldn't they increase premiums for women who's mothers or grandmothers had breast cancer or if you have an increased risk of heart disease because of family history. I'm glad that's being done, personally. Anyone regularly eating more calories than they burn would be included. 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. Health care is a basic human right and that right is not negated by smoking or overeating. So yes they should pay more. What a concept. When insurance companies price smokers out of their products, we all pay. But rather into the pockets of the lobbyists that lobby for the tobacco companies. Private health insurance wasn't created so everyone could get healthy it is a financial product in the United States. Regeneron CEO & CSO: The Real Healthcare Problem Is Bigger Than You Think, Pfizer CEO: How The Biopharmaceutical Industry Creates Value (And Jobs) For The U.S. Economy, Gradual Progress In Precision Non-Oncology, But Challenges Persist, Amid Executive Shuffle, Anthem Looks To Expand Health Services, 'Forest Bathing' Really May Be Good For Health, Study Finds, Not Fun In The Sun: Summer Infections From Animals, Insurers To Trump: Suspending Payments For 'High-Need Patients' Roils Market, CDC: Over 200 Ill From Parasite Outbreak, Del Monte Recalls Vegetable Trays. I don't have cancer. Absolutely! Tobacco use for this purpose is defined as any self-reported tobacco use four or more times a week within the past six months. The slim & trim one, or the one who's got a medium waistline that goes with their body / or height proportionate, or the 3 pack a day smoker ? "Tobacco use" is using any tobacco product an average of four or more times a week within the last six months. Open a newChase Private ClientChecking account and get a $2000 bonus! Cost (the biggest problem with health insurance) might go down (or the insurance companies might just take bigger profits!) 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 (!!! Fat, smokers, too skinny, birth defects, pimples. everyone should pay more, right? What is a creepy fact about the human body? 88% of smokers began smoking before age 18. You will be notified in advance of any changes in rate or terms. 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. But not enough employees have signed up or improved their health. Here is a question for you all? The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". How Long Should Myeloma Patients Continue Lenalidomide After AutoSCT. What do people claim they do but in reality they dont? Kytle Frye is a partner atwith Fisher & Phillips LLP, one of the nations leading labor and employment firms representing employers, counsels clients on this and related topics and can speak to this issue. To be fair, policies adopted by employers or insurers would need to apply different rates to different smokers, depending on their individual risk. for charging me more for healthcare. 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. 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. Increasingly, companies are answering yes, and asking smokers to pay higher health insurance premiums than their non-smoking colleaguesor even not hiring them altogether. 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? These include, but are not limited to: man buns and beards; whether jam or cream goes first on a scone; the colour of The Dress; and smoking. Walk. Are you quitting for your health? It's no secret that quitting cigarettes isn't as easy as not lighting up. Generally speaking, healthcare costs are higher for smokers, and they often have higher rates of absences. Health care? Sadly in America we have far more unhealthy people than healthy so this will probably be resisted and some groups will get involved and say it's discrimination. thank Jack. So to those healthy ones out there shouting "YES they should charge".. beware, they may be charging you for breathing fresh air one day! It has had significant effects on obesity throughj dirt control in schools, Tougher laws on DWI are certainly needed, too. Working-age Americans are not legally required to purchase health insurance. How to find good vaccine information online. Both are just as costly in care as smoking/weight. Australia: We saved our average customer $320* on their average annual premium! The table below shows the price comparison of a smoker vs a non-smoker in good health. You can change your choices at any time by visiting your privacy controls. Sounds like the Republican/Tea Party Health Care Reform Plan to mer. came here to say this, and I agree. Ralph- Corpus Christi, Texas. Hopefully these penalties will get these overindulgent people to quit their bad habits and lead healthier lives thus live longer. Jack: Should fat people and smokers pay more for healthcare insurance? On July 1, according . 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. Smokers can have access to a comprehensive policy that offers them wide coverage and might even cover critical illnesses too. Sure why not? The price of car insurance is based on driving record. Welcome to CCI. While it's true that smoking does cost the healthcare system a significant amount of money each year, it's also worth considering the extra taxes smokers are paying. This is self-inflicted risk that clearly results in higher medical costs. But this is not true. Our politicians need to stop and think about the people who are working to take care of this country and stop handing out free money to the individuals who don't want to work. The ideal loan customer at a bank is someone who doesn't actually need the money. For the most part, their issues are self-inflicted for which they should pay. The main problem with the actuarial fairness argument is that different smokers may have different risks. Grateful patient fundraising programs, as they are known, employ a strategy in which hospitals seek donations from satisfied patients, often using public data to identify those who are wealthy and requiring their physicians to discuss giving opportunities with them. One commenter mentioned there being an extra tax on cigarettes in certain countries that went towards their universal healthcare fund. Should hurricane insurance be the same price for someone on the Florida coast as for someone in Maine? They should foot the bill for the fat and un-healthy. While it is important to encourage people to stop smoking, charging smokers higher insurance rates may not be a fair or effective method of achieving this goal. It always seems people don't do something until it hits their pocketbook. Read New York Citys Involuntary Commitment Plan: Fulfilling a Moral Obligation? We have been paying more for our health care for several years because we smoke. The most obviou and clearest cases of physical abuse by a person on themselves should cost the perpetrator. Why not address the problem which is "lack of health care" or "the gross expense of health care" rather than take a view that would increase the expense? Wal-Mart, which insures more than 1 million people, is one such company. Sure, why not, soon we will be charge for the air we breath, for eating too much, for raising your voice, for drive around and maybe for having lots of kids like china, I don't see why not, in a bad economy, we always have room for a new law, you know, we you're you're down, that is when you get attacked. If you have a thyroid problem, you'd better have a doctor's note. instead of providing serious programs to educate, Overall, smokers pay 14% more for health insurance premiums than non-smokers. In this atmosphere, employers must do what they can to control costs. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. 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. And I think it was hard for someone like Jackie Chan to find health insurance for his stunt work. Severance, a popular Emmy Award-winning show streaming on Apple TV+, is a rich cultural artifact. Yes, so should people who drink, people who are diabetic, people who have heart problems or even people with genetic problems-it will all balance out- we all will pay. So instead, companies are now going to start making these employees pay more. We, AOL, are part of the Yahoo family of brands. (to ideal) all in four months and I quit smoking in a day. SMoking, excessive drinking, over eating should be the responsiblity of the person who practices these activiites. This is why we need the health care reform good or bad is better than none. It is a shame that money has to be a motivator to incent someone to become healthy! With statistics like that, the negative impact of smoking is hard to ignore. My son had a hemoglobin test before an emergency surgery, and now our insurance considers him diabetic, which he is not, and we have not been able to get them to change this. After all, like the commercial states, who doesn't want 50% more cash! I would like to start this counter-debate by saying you see more drunk driving deaths than smoker deaths because news reporters report car accidents, not cancer Smoking increases health risks and should be banned in public places. Cigarette smokers have rights. Figure out how much you'll save. There's my point. Four-fifths of states follow that protocol, though most employer-based . Most insurance plans cover smoking-cessation programs. Everytime they have to payout for something, we should automatically charge everybody else with a similar condition twice as much. Instead, outlaw tobacco and educate everyone on better diets. Healthy Reader tired of making excuses for my fellow Lazy Americans. You may opt-out by. There's more complex social issues at play for these health issues. If we want smokers to reimburse the rest of us for the cost of their habit, we should stick with tobacco taxes, a policy that reduces smoking rates without having any direct effect on peoples decisions to purchase health insurance. Not to mention I don't get sick nearly as often. Customer Service. Thoughts? This is kind of what private health insurance risk analysts do. Smokers here in the uk pay an incredible amount of vat, and the companies that supply them also pay tax to the government. Of course, this is America, corporations are free to do anything they want and individuals pay all the freight. D) Is there any way to motivate self-control? So it's additional incentive to stop smoking. Exor Puerto Rico, USA. In a way Jack they already do. Lower the rates on those that live heathier lifestyles and leave me the heck alone. Just look at the people riding the motorized shopping carts. Establishing a compliant wellness program with a smoking cessation program and alternative mechanisms for some smokers, are key components of any decision to impose a differential. If the answer is a choice between free behavior modification/education and wasting money on junk food, and they choose to waste money, this will decrease the money for waste, and encourage adopting behavior to save that money. I don't think so. Due to the increased risk, those who smoke can pay more for their monthly premium. 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 person with emphsema is a tremendous cost to the health care system and it is primarily caused by smoking. That's the last thing they want. We deserve the same coverage that our hired help takes for granted. We're both fat, and we both smoke. However, until we do the same for alcoholics and drug users, it is unconstitutional. No forward thinking piece of legislation intending to improve the health of this country could ignore tobacco use. It only takes a minute to see how much you could save. That is the right solution, not charging people more for health insurance because they have a problem. The Affordable Care Act allows insurance companies to charge smokers up to 50% more for premiums.
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