is this what we want to teach our kids? For one its not any healthier for others that do not smoke with others that smoke around them, What good is paying health insurance, If your health is not on the healthy side. They do not live as long and even getting treatment for those conditions is no fun. As the fight against tobacco continues to evolve, so should our policy ideas. Image via iStock, long list of serious and often life-threatening health impacts. About the Author Increasingly, companies are answering yes, and asking smokers to pay higher health insurance premiums than their non-smoking colleaguesor even not hiring them altogether. The authors concluded thatreducing smoking and obesity will not save society health care costs. Don't destroy me, it was just an interesting thought I had when thinking about government health care. These of course probably don't have insurance at all. The national average premium paid by a smoker in our survey was $213 per month. Another tax on the poor and middle class in terms of a health insurance "surtax" will not fix the problem. Should fertile women have to pay more for health insurance than women who can't reproduce? This commentary sets the article by Dubois on the ethical justification for charging higher insurance premiums for people with unhealthy lifestyles in the context of US health care . Differential premiums determined by health habits is currently prohibited in Australia, as its considered discriminatory. Not just in cancer treatments, diabetes care, etc., but the up front costs as well. It only takes a minute to see how much you could save. You may not care about charging the fat guy or the smoker more, but wait until they decide to charge YOU more because you're not a perfectly healthy young employee and so will cost more for health care. 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. Thus, charging smokers higher rates would imply a commitment to higher rates for people who are obese, have high cholesterol, or engage in hazardous activities, such as motorcycle riding. The slippery slope of legal assisted suicide and euthanasia. Charging smokers higher health insurance premiums is no more objectionable than imposing taxes on tobacco products, alcohol, guns, or gasoline. We all die, we will all make a claim upon society at some point. they need to be taught a lesson. He has a brain tumor. Insurance is collective protection against risk. You may change your billing preferences at any time in the Customer Center or call Here's my question to you: Should smokers and fat people pay more for health care? If you get a lot of speeding/reckless driving tickets or accidents you paay more for auto insurrance-same principle. These folks made the decision to smoke, so they should pay more. I know, I know, he shouted while furiously waving His Weston gives this example: Say, for instance, your health insurance benefits cost the company $1,000 a month. Or. Only if drunks & drug addicts will pay more. The Unvaccinated Should Pay More For Health Insurance. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Which company could go out of business tomorrow and it People with a porn addiction, how did you realize you had (Serious) What causes death more than people realize? The Affordable Care Act allows insurance companies to charge smokers up to 50% more for premiums. So eat less, eat better and your premiums will go down. So why should healthy people pay subsidize healthcare for unhealthy people? Secondly fat people don't stay fat because they are starving. 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. Cigarettes, co-pays and junk food add up, and all these savings could give them (Smokers and Fat People) "healthier food" or that gym membership they want so bad. I also don't have an issue with taxing excessive drinkers either. Or somewhat young in age and more prone to colds than older folks? Here are a few tips for quitting smoking: Find your why. If you include those who consume alcohol in there i will say yes. Penalties include higher insurance premiums and deductibles for those who aren't participating in the company's health programs and those engaged in risky health behavior, like smoking. However, because smokers and obese people die younger than healthy individuals, healthy individuals had the highest lifetime health care expenditures. Jack, when we start down this road of charging people higher premiums based on the choices they make where does it end. Thanks Bush and Obama, before you two we had a Constitution and Bill of Rights. However, before employers can levy the surcharge they must give smokers an opportunity to qualify for nonsmoker rates by offering a way for them to quit. Why not Jack? Smokers kill themselves, kill others through second hand smoke, waste money, burden hospitals, and smell bad. Michelle, the former editorial director, insurance, at QuinStreet, is a writer, editor and expert on car insurance and personal finance. Just because someone is living large doesn't mean that it is by choice nor unhealthy. Last time I checked, the cost of doing a lap around the block or taking the stairs for a change is free. Well, the creators of the Affordable Care Act (or the ACA, a.k.a. If I take up smoking or get fat, I'm applying for a government job. In the past few years, many employers have been trying to get workers to voluntarily improve their health to help bring down soaring insurance costs. However, I don't think there should be a set fee. Copyright 2023 Insure.com. Read A Warning from China: After the Zero Covid Policy. But whats this if they can afford it stuff? Last week, Dallas County in Texas joined the growing ranks of employers that charge employees who smoke a higher monthly health insurance premium than employees who don't light up. Get free updates delivered free to your inbox. Private health insurance wasn't created so everyone could get healthy it is a financial product in the United States. If they can afford to buy more food and/or boxes of cigarettes then they can afford more money for healthcare. Quit smoking; start working out. LOL America. are killing us anyway wth bills n medicine we are always use as the puppets. In light of the Petraeus scandal, is anything we do online really private? Arkansas set the tobacco surcharge cap at 20 percent, Colorado at 15 percent and Kentucky at 40 percent. Ralph- Corpus Christi, Texas. These people should absolutely pay more for their healthcare. Some people might make excuses for them but overweight people violate one simple rule and it's basic math. Find out more about how we use your information in our privacy policy and cookie policy. However, lying is fraud, and you can be denied coverage if you misrepresent yourself. Obamacare's effect on small business: An unintended consequence? It says smokers consume about 25% more health care services than nonsmokers. If they reinstated it and jacked the rates for unhealthy people it might do a world of good all around. Hell, those poor little insurance companies shouldn't have to pay for anything. Heres how to protect yourself from its side-effects. When they get their habits under control then their premiums could also be lowered. After all, like the commercial states, who doesn't want 50% more cash! Anyone that does any dangerous activities, also. Posted by Susan Gilbert at 09/19/2013 02:47:13 PM|. If they are lazy and indulge themselves with bad food and refuse to change that! One recent survey shows the use of penalties is expected to climb next year to include almost 40% of large and medium-sized companies. What about people with children, or families in general? Of course, lowering taxes on the rich, which is essentially stealing money from the next generation, means you're a conservative capitalist. It is an interesting thought about how that would implicate unhealthy people. We do the same for car insurance and why not for health insurance. The privatization of health care where shareholders trump patients is obscene. Smokers here in the uk pay an incredible amount of vat, and the companies that supply them also pay tax to the government. There is always a reason but there is never an excuse for bad health. Our radiology departments answer was, Well, theres always the zoo.. Pepperell, MA. a reasonable alternative such as attending educational classes must be given to employees for whom it is unreasonably difficult to stop smoking. And I think it was hard for someone like Jackie Chan to find health insurance for his stunt work. At some point it would become like auto insurance where your rates go up every time you make a claim. Now, you can check in with Jack online to see what he's thinking and weigh in with your own comments online and on TV. 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. Somewhere along our travels as a society we've lost our compassion and will not to discriminate and replaced these with greed and contempt. Click Manage settings for more information and to manage your choices. Want a weekly round-up in your inbox? Working-age Americans are not legally required to purchase health insurance. Why have we let our diseased health care system go untreated? Welcome to CCI. Obviously they use more health care resources than a single employee. They take non-stop breaks throughout the day, contaminate air outside the office (and drag it inside as well), and drive up health care costs for everyone. How about diabetics, cancer surviors, the list is endless. More profit. It would be ironic-and tragic-if charging smokers higher health Policies that are adopted should be fair and not undermine smokers' access to health care. Yes they should! Poor people can afford this expensive health hazard luxury? Of course, this is America, corporations are free to do anything they want and individuals pay all the freight. A couple that smokes one pack each day will spend between $3400.00 to $7300.00 a year. 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