But then, when people, known as "humans", fall prey to this propaganda blitz and believe that cigarettes make them cool and ice cream will make them happy, then they and they alone are responsible for the consequences? On every pack of cigarettes there are warning that indicate they are hazardous to your health. Not everyone is meant to be a size two. There are numerous providers for such programs, often insurers, and seeking legal counsel also would be fruitful. 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. Jack, for non-smokers and fit people it sounds reasonable. 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? As for smokers, that is much more clear-cut and it would make sense to raise rates for those. I think people are stressed out with todays world, They have/show no feelings for themselves. It's no secret that quitting cigarettes isn't as easy as not lighting up. The main problem with the actuarial fairness argument is that different smokers may have different risks. 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. Compare Club Australia Pty Ltd (CCA) is a corporate authorised representative (AFS Representative number 001279036) of Alternative Media Pty Ltd (AFS License number 486326). But this is not true. 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. Not surprisingly, implementing a differential does involve some risk. So we really do see employers going down this road of setting tobacco-users premium differentials.. Should smokers pay more for health insurance? One commenter mentioned there being an extra tax on cigarettes in certain countries that went towards their universal healthcare fund. But unfortunately it is not popular across the country if govt. Starting next year, Wal-Mart will charge employees who smoke higher premiums, along with offering a free program to help them quit. Australia's private health cover system is community rated, which means that people get the same price for a policy no matter their age, gender, or health status. The stubborn presence of tobacco use is frustrating considering the plethora of studies that link it to so many debilitating diseases. Due to the increased risk, those who smoke can pay more for their monthly premium. However, quitting smoking can help reverse the negative health effects of tobacco, giving you a better chance at a longer, healthier life -- not to mention the money you'll save on cigarettes and healthcare! Like the diabetic who eats sweets by the barrel full cause they like sweets and refuse to give them up !i mean let's have a little common sence about this ! Also, smokers miss 6.16 days of work per year compared to non-smokers' 3.86 days, and four ten-minute smoke breaks equate to . 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. Not just in cancer treatments, diabetes care, etc., but the up front costs as well. There's more complex social issues at play for these health issues. Social engineering though tax policies never works. Iranian womens rights movement faces brutal retaliation from government, Doctors trained abroad will save rural health care. These of course probably don't have insurance at all. So instead, companies are now going to start making these employees pay more. If I cause a greater loss experience for my auto insurance company because of my poor driving habits and/or poor choice of vehicle, my insurance company charges me more. What about people who ride motorcycles, go skiing, boating, or engage in any other risky activity? The health insurance surcharge applies to users of all types of tobacco, including pipes, cigars, cigarettes and chewing tobacco. This is disgracefull question to ask abt fat people, sme hve reason to be tht way. We do the same for car insurance and why not for health insurance. 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. If youre coming to Australia on a temporary 600 visa, Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) is health insurance that cov From dentists to optometrists, its nice to build a relationship and enjoy that personal touch. Although studies have shown that monetary incentives can influence smoking cessation, these studies have involved giving smokers monetary rewards to stop smoking and have not examined the effects of charging smokers health insurance rates. I don't smoke and am about 10lbs overweight. Just because someone is living large doesn't mean that it is by choice nor unhealthy. Hey Jack- These people should probably pay more but YOU should pay more attention to the words you use. I think that is a very good method. Please see our FSG. 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. However if employees have been offered many options to get healthy and they are not taking them then they should be paying more for their health care. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, jack. execept for those fat people and smokers. Sure. The illnesses caused by smoking are unspeakably cruel and medical costs are out of sight. Arkansas set the tobacco surcharge cap at 20 percent, Colorado at 15 percent and Kentucky at 40 percent. 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. Fortunately, theres a simple solution to the problem. If youre in the market for health insurance, Insure.com annually ranks the best health insurance companies according to surveyed policyholders. Whether or not this is fair is hard to say for sure, but if you're thinking of quitting smoking now could be the time. I am 54 but I am as healthy as a 21 year old! Would I get a tax rebate if I quit before I needed treatment before I suffered a smoking related illness? 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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Tax credits to help pay for health insurance are available to. Reuters reports a growing number of companies are raising health care costs for so-called unhealthy employees. Another tax on the poor and middle class in terms of a health insurance "surtax" will not fix the problem. Customer Service. This stuff is expensive, and I personally don't want to pay for John Doe's chemotherapy when he has smoked for 50 years. The key difference between life insurance for smokers and non-smokers is the likelihood of being accepted and the cost. Wal-Mart, which insures more than 1 million people, is one such company. 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? 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. So eat less, eat better and your premiums will go down. Clearly, more research is needed on the relationship between financial incentives and smoking cessation. 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. 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. 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. Policies that are adopted should be fair and not undermine smokers access to health care. That's up from 19% this year and only 8% in 2009. 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. When surcharges are steep, lots of smokers forgo insurance, despite receiving subsidies and/or facing tax penalties. Guess who has to indirectly pick up that tab. Mayor Adams said we have a moral obligation to help people who are mentally ill. Of course, lowering taxes on the rich, which is essentially stealing money from the next generation, means you're a conservative capitalist. Don't destroy me, it was just an interesting thought I had when thinking about government health care. 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 is a fact that if you leave an unhealthy lifestyle, your lifespan will be shorten and costlier. Disclaimer: The advertisers appearing on this website are clients from which QuinStreet receives compensation (Sponsors). Smokers, along with the tobacco industry, should pay to cover healthcare costs associated with their bad habit. They should foot the bill for the fat and un-healthy. Since it would be impossible, and unfair, to have exepmtions for all the possiblities of lifestyle choice or legitimate medical neccessity, charging more for the obese is a tough call. For example, if the cost of insurance is more than 9.66% of your income, the ACA lets you forgo insurance coverage without incurring a penalty. There are health issue associated with those folks as well. The onus falls on the employer to be very clear [about] what theyre doing.. According to insurance companies, it appears that simply living and breathing is a good cause to raise premiums. Doctors charge whatever exorbitant price they want, and have NO incentive to make us well because then, theyd lose money. Abstract. This should have been in effect years ago. Ever since Alabama started taxing fat people and smokers, obesity and smoking rates have gone down in the state. No Jack .That is not a solution.A better idea might be to stop the FDA from allowing food procesors from pouring high fructose corn syrup into everything we eat.First you fed us poison and then you blame us for being poisoned.You want less smokers ?stop all price supports to tobacco producers and cigarette companies.the price wil be out of reach. Therefore, any reliance placed on the information provided on the CompareClub website is at the user's own risk. 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. As word spreads what the changes. Frankly I am sick and tired of Insurance companies trying to justify reasons to gouge us further. Charging smokers higher health insurance premiums is no more objectionable than imposing taxes on tobacco products, alcohol, guns, or gasoline. To be fair, policies adopted by employers or insurers would need to apply different rates to different smokers, depending on their individual risk. You'll be able to breathe better. No one should be able to tell an adult that she cant spend her hard-earned money on cigarettes. 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. They choose to smoke, they should be able to take care of the high risk they are taking, and pay for their healthcare! Of course anyone that eats fast food, or any fried or unhealthy food would need to pay more. Certainly not directly. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Smokers face significantly increased health risks, which can drive up the cost of their overall health care, as well as high prices for cigarettes. However, until we do the same for alcoholics and drug users, it is unconstitutional. Around 60,000 Australian households were quizzed about health insuranceby One Big Switch. METALWORKER in La Salle, IL. 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. Absolutely! However, not everyone agrees that this should be the case. How will the fiscal cliff affect the way you handle your money. The ABS found that smoking causes 80% of lung cancer deaths and 20% of overall cancer deaths. Although most states allow the surcharge to be up to 50 percent, its not happening, she says. Shopping around for health insurance is a smart way to cut costs and take steps towards improving your health. How about women that keep spitting out babies ? I agree with everything except for your last sentence. No you see the importance of everyone being required to have insurance, be it public or private. How does primary and secondary insurance work? If there ever was an industry that demanded nationalization it is the health care industry. The Affordable Care Act allows insurance companies to charge smokers up to 50% more for premiums. 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. According to the utilitarian argument, charging smokers more will encourage them to quit, which will improve public health and reduce societys smoking-related costs. Weston gives this example: Say, for instance, your health insurance benefits cost the company $1,000 a month. It always seems people don't do something until it hits their pocketbook. Besides they can take the money they save by adopting healthy habits and have more spending money. The more people need it, the more it goes up. Dont expect to escape a penalty for smoking if you get coverage through your job. came here to say this, and I agree. The risk is based on numerous factors such as, lifestyle and genetics. With statistics like that, the negative impact of smoking is hard to ignore. These people are choosing to eat more than they burn. There are too many things that can cause one's life to be shortened. Directionally people need to be responsible for their choices. By choosing to smoke, Im increasing my chances of needing more medical care than those who dont smoke. Quitting smoking can reverse some of its effects within years, making you a less likely candidate for heart disease and lung cancer. Smoking causes alot of problems not only for the smoker, but for the people around. These people should absolutely pay more for their healthcare. We all die, we will all make a claim upon society at some point. While smokers pay much higher premiums for life cover, they generally do not pay more for health cover. Who would YOU Hire First ?? If those at a higher risk paid more for health cover, it would theoretically reduce the cost for other people. 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. So if you are going to charge more for those that smoke or are living large for insurance, then by all means add in those that partake in drugs and alcohol. "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. The table below shows the price comparison of a smoker vs a non-smoker in good health. A disproportionate number of tobacco users, particularly smokers, are racial minorities and come from low-income and less-educated households, according to the American Cancer Society. This is nothing but insurance companies ripping off ignorant consumers. 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. But whats this if they can afford it stuff? In reality employers are directly helping them save. Exor Puerto Rico, USA. There should also be discounts for people who live an active life style, and take care of themselves in comparison to their age group! Shouldn't my health insurance give me discounts for going to the gym and not smoking? This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. That might apply to most of us the way the economy is going for the middle class. 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. Our websites do not, and are not intended to, provide a comprehensive list of all companies that may provide the products and services you are seeking. I think educating them is. It is legal for smokers to be charged more for employer-sponsored health insurance in most instances. Find out more about how we use your information in our privacy policy and cookie policy. Anyone regularly eating more calories than they burn would be included. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Note they wouldn't pay more for health care but health care insurance. And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment. It's about time that we are made to be accountable for our actions. For one, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prevents employees in group health plans from being charged more because of a health factor, which includes health status, medical condition and claims experience, among other things. Translation: people who don't quit smoking, lose weight or lower their cholesterol. 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. Education is a better tactic by health care companies. In a way Jack they already do. Yes, absolutely, as far as hurting poor people the most, have you seen the price of cigarettes lately, junk food isn't cheap either. You will be charged In addition, the ACA tries to make insurance affordable for more people by subsidizing the price of their insurance. The four of us were so taken by the show that we wrote these reflections on its important ethical themes. After all, like the commercial states, who doesn't want 50% more cash! Yes, shame on us for enjoying our lives. 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. Lets not be lulled into this by some vogue PC catch phrases. However, because smokers and obese people die younger than healthy individuals, healthy individuals had the highest lifetime health care expenditures. Since we are now talking about doing that, it is only a matter of time before that happens. Links found on the CompareClub website do not necessarily imply an endorsement or recommendation of the information or views that are expressed by the external party. No. Come on, being fat and being a smoker are BOTH addictions and choices, just like a drug addict. Van Baal and colleagues compared the lifetime health care costs of three groups: smokers, obese individuals, and healthy individuals. 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? 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. The idea is also dead wrong. This is just another way for these insurance companies to FATTEN there wallets. Why should we pay pay for others' poor choices? Of course they should pay more. Fat people and smokers definetly should pay more for their Health Insurance. Good thing it doesn't control health care costs for its customers, or it would lose most of its business. Also obese persons with non-preexisting conditions to cause their weight/cholesterol/etc. Overall, smokers pay 14% more for health insurance premiums than non-smokers. It says smokers consume about 25% more health care services than nonsmokers. Smokers should pay for their own health costs. 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. Higher insurance premiums price smokers out of insurance markets. This is money that can then be fed back into public resources, such as the healthcare system. They absolutely should pay more. "let the Insurance companies charge anyone a penalty, But rather into the pockets of the lobbyists that lobby for the tobacco companies. The company dropped it due to lack of interest. Fat people and smokers should pay more absolutly. If you cant afford $20 for a second hand bike, you can use your God given two feet. 1 million people, sme hve reason to be charged in addition, negative. 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