How can companies have the guts to raise health care premiums on different types of workers?
Companies want to add surcharges for health insurance forobesity and high blood pressure or cholesterol and smokers.
I call BS on this. How can one charge anyone else more for health care when those are just habits that can be seen.
What about all the people who practice unsafe sex, drive like bats our of hell, have anger management problems, genetic problems and predispositions, pregnancy and fertitlity problems, and drug problems.
Until EVERYONE is penalized equally for just living, then employers should just **** it up and deal.
EVERYONE has a vice.
Pretty soon they are going to nit pick enough to that they do not have to provide health care for anyone.
What are you going to do when they start pointing that finger at you to raise YOUR premium because of what neighborhood you live in or how many speeding tickets you have gotten or some other weird measure to put you into a risk catagory?
I am waiting on someobese person to take a sexually active HIV positive person to the employers attention.
Health care records are supposed to be PRIVATE and if a fatty (me included) can be outed for all of our health problemsm why shouldnt someone who has a “hidden” problem be brought to the light too.
And that is what I would be paying my lawyer to bring up….
YES I AGREE that the US health care BITES… but it is going to be a long haul to change.
November 26th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Our health care system in the united states is terrible. I don’t know the answer unless everyone will VOTE to make the changes we need I am afraid it will get even worse.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I think that is horrible and should be aginst the law. I am with you 100% everyone has vices and something that could contribute to additional medical expenses. What about familes that have 4 and 5 kids - tell me they don’t have a lot of medical bills!!!
November 29th, 2008 at 5:58 am
You know, I agree with you on some of this, but I can see it from the perspective of the employer. Unhealthy people will have to see the doctor more often, thats just common sense. But at least they pay something. What you shoudl really be focusing on is the much larger percentage of people that have NO insurance and never pay thier bills anyway. Welfare recipients that pop out kid after kid, ride the system and never have to pay for anything…those are the reasons health care is so high. Doctors have to get paid, and if they aren’t getting paid by 75% of the patients they see, then the 25 % that pay for health care, pick up the bill for all the rest.
Same thing applies to shoplifters….every item that gets stolen accounts for price increases on the same item that now must cost more, to cover the loss of the stolen item.
Furthermore, you have 12 Million undocumented Immigrants here, that can’t be turned away if they are pregnant regardless of insurance. Then those children become medicaid recipients immediately because they are citizens.
I don’t like the idea of paying more for health insurance, but Fat people and smokers are not the only ones to blame for this, they are just the visable majority that can take the hit because this government is to lazy to something about the real issues.
I’d much rather see the price of sugary, fat laden foods and cigarettes cost much much more, and fruits and vegatables cost less.