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Charging the Unhealthy More For Insurance

Posted by kdawson on from the no-carrots-for-you-here's-a-stick dept.

Joe The Dragon sends us a BusinessWeek story, run on Yahoo, about Clarian Health and the new thing they are trying with health insurance coverage for their employees. They are charging unhealthy people more. The article goes into some depth about whether this is a good idea and whether the practice might spread. "In late June, the Indianapolis-based hospital system announced that starting in 2009, it will fine employees $10 per paycheck if their body mass index (BMI, a ratio of height to weight that measures body fat) is over 30. If their cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels are too high, they'll be charged $5 for each standard they don't meet. Ditto if they smoke: Starting next year, they'll be charged another $5 in each check."

2 of 1,106 comments (clear)

  1. Good by NETHED · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I'm healthy and rarely visit the doctor (thank God). Why should I pay for someone who is overweight and smokes.

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  2. Re:Slope Slippery When Wet by E++99 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Encouraging Americans to be healthy is great. I don't really have a problem with charging those who smoke more, for instance. But high blood pressure? Come on, that's hereditary. Once you start discriminating against people for their genetic makeup, you're on a slope that is not just slippery, but frictionless.

    So? This isn't about penalizing people for their behavior, it's about charging them for what they buy. Alcoholism can be hereditary too, but we should still make them pay for the alcohol they consume. Sensitivity to the sun is hereditary, but we still charge those people for the sunscreen they need.

    Come on, people. Communism isn't cool.