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. If they can pay for their smoking, there is no way they can not pay for their additional cost of their own health care, if they can kill them selves with money why to be burden other people who lives healthy life style. It never ends. Some potential state law concerns also could arise with a differential. Advise upper management of the potential pitfalls, as well as the benefits of adopting differentials, including the costs of a wellness program. How does primary and secondary insurance work? For your family? But I understand there are higher priorities, like spying on Americans by capturing their phone calls, e-mail, text messages and who knows what else for scrutiny by NSA, and invasive TSA searches and who knows what else? Likewise, the ideal customer for the health insurance companies are those who are perfectly healthy and not in need of insurance. Because many companies self-insure - meaning they pay for health care. This practice may lead many people to forego health insurance even though they may have to pay a fine under the ACA. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Once you start separating the herd you'll need to take out sky divers, surfers, race car drivers, anorexics, clumsy people, etc., etc., etc. Why should those who have healthy habits subsidise them? It is a fact that if you leave an unhealthy lifestyle, your lifespan will be shorten and costlier. 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. Now with that said, if such a system is forced down my throat should Smokers Pay more taxes for healthcare? Quitting is hard, and you don't have to go it alone. That's why we have tobacco tax. There, I saw firsthand the incredibly high rate of smoking in a population that was mostly hidden from me in my everyday life. Obviously, but the mere mention of it in this country means you must be a communist, because you're taking money from one group and giving it to another. In the whole debate about rising health care costs we have been avoiding the issue of personal responsibility yes people who make an effort to live a healthy life should be rewarded with lower insurace premiums. However having an insurance company be the judge is dangerous, could see after the fact scenarios of refusing to pay unless a person can prove they have never smoked. Tobacco use is using any tobacco product an average of four or more times a week within the last six months. On top of that just tell me how to live my life too. upheld hand. Healthy foods cost two to three times as much. Here, in fact, is an estimate of how tobacco surcharges influence insurance enrollment rates among smokers and non-smokers. This stuff is expensive, and I personally don't want to pay for John Doe's chemotherapy when he has smoked for 50 years. Sign upfor free. Healthy Reader tired of making excuses for my fellow Lazy Americans. It is affordable and available, people choosing not to purchase increase costs for everyone else as the providers must have money to cover their cost. After all they are more likely to have higher health care costs! as for smokers , they no wht will happen to them.. an tht question should been broader n liittle mre respected. 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. Critics worry these kinds of penalties will hurt poor people the most, since health care costs consume a bigger part of their income and they may not have as much access to gyms or fresh food. That makes them more expensive, and gives their users more of a reasons to quit. Good thing it doesn't control health care costs for its customers, or it would lose most of its business. As a person who is living large, I can tell you that I don't have high blood pressure, I don't have diabetes, my knees and back are fine. Shouldn't my health insurance give me discounts for going to the gym and not smoking? Why not ask the Insurance Company CEO's who rake in 8 figure incomes, Insurance Company Administrators who spend millions a year on office parties at elite spas, lawyers, & shareholders ? Tagged as: There are some topics of conversation that never fail to divide a crowd. Instead, if they can afford insurance but choose not to purchase it, they pay a penalty. This is self-inflicted risk that clearly results in higher medical costs. All Rights Reserved. I also think tobacco should be taxed out of existence. Weve seen this movie be. There should be more places where only smokers can smoke freely. B) Will increased premiums be motivation enough for smokers to quit and fat people to reduce and eat healthily? That's the last thing they want. Smoking yes, weight no. A sign promotes COVID-19 vaccines at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital on August 10, 2021 in Lake Charles . If everyone paid the same rate, nonsmokers would have to share the health-care costs stemming from smokers habits. If they are lazy and indulge themselves with bad food and refuse to change that! Health insurance companies are beginning to act more and more like banks. At some point it would become like auto insurance where your rates go up every time you make a claim. Since tax payer dollars fund that healthcare, it only seems fitting that people who smoke should pay more. As for smokers, that is much more clear-cut and it would make sense to raise rates for those. Good Question! 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. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". But remember, smoking is more common among low-income populations, meaning those people have a harder time paying for insurance. They do, Jack. If you start down that road, there's no stopping. I am 54 but I am as healthy as a 21 year old! Comments are moderated before they are published. Besides, if you make obese people a political issue you will lose at the ballot box because most of are obese. In a way Jack they already do. It has had significant effects on obesity throughj dirt control in schools, Tougher laws on DWI are certainly needed, too. Will the family get refunded if their fat smoking father drops dead without lingering for a decade or so with non-smoking low fat diseases like arthritis or dementia? life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, jack. execept for those fat people and smokers. Let me get this straight, "the not poor" buy "the poor" food, while "the poor" buy cigarettes. Cigarette smokers have rights. Secondly fat people don't stay fat because they are starving. 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. Some also argue that hiking smokers premiums serves as an incentive for them to kick the habit. 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? Jack, glad you touched on a subject I feel so passionate about. Smoking tobacco increases your risk of heart disease, lung disease, and other health problems. 6."Health Insurance Surcharges for Tobacco Users: State and Federal Rules." Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY users should call 1- 844-704-7357), 24 hours a day/7 days. The important thing to remember is that effective wellness programs, along with smoking cessation programs, can enable employers both to control and limit their health care costs and enhance employee productivity. Working-age Americans are not legally required to purchase health insurance. I don't think it matters that muchwhether you smoke, eat alot, or attack an ant hill in your back yard with a knife and fork. Many studies have shown that smokers cost the health care system more and that they cost health insurers more. Self-efficacy is essential "Analysis shows . Since smokers tend to have significantly lower incomes than non-smokers, they could be especially vulnerable to increased health insurance costs. For the same reason young boys pay more than girls for car insurance. To avoid this unfortunate outcome, rate increases should be kept low enough that they do not lead smokers to forego health insurance. You may opt-out by. Moreover, if smokers are charged higher rates, then other higher-risk groups should also be charged higher rates, since it would be unfair to single out smokers. 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. Figure out how much you'll save. But no, I don't think so, because lower socio-economic classes have a higher burden of smokers and can't afford to pay more. We are delighted that you'd like to resume your subscription. If you choose to inhale smoke and you choose to eat fast food and unhealthy crap in vast quantities, then you choose to pay more for healthcare. Why don't we just discriminate more, people who drink should pay more.It doesn't matter to the insurance companies as long as they get money. we should just make them pay more for their HEALTH care if they end up fat or smoke a pack It needs to be a flat rate for everyone. No one should be able to tell an adult that she cant spend her hard-earned money on cigarettes. Lower the rates on those that live heathier lifestyles and leave me the heck alone. A company would spend more than it'd save by attempting such differentiation. When you apply for health insurance, you are required to report whether or not you are a smoker. And people who drive more than others, people who work 3 jobs, people who don't work enough, people who drink too much, those that don't drink enough. If youre in the market for health insurance, Insure.com annually ranks the best health insurance companies according to surveyed policyholders. First. The opinions expressed here are those of the authors, not The Hastings Center. 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. This is disgracefull question to ask abt fat people, sme hve reason to be tht way. This guide is opinion only and should not be taken as medical or financial advice. Thus, when smokers are faced with a steep surcharge, some of themespecially younger ones who dont yet suffer from the long-term consequences of smokingsimply decide to forgo insurance. These people should be paying more money for health insurance. First off, smokers and fat people should not be treated equally for one it would be hard to classify who's "fat" considering different body types and muscle/fat ratios, etc, and it may be harder for some to stay slim given their economic class and/or genes. On July 1, according . If you have a certain prescription, or just have a test ordered from your doctors, the insurance companies will raise the premiums once a year regardless of whether this condition has been confirmed or not. However, there is a potential snowball effect that could wind up with young, healthy people paying peanuts, and elderly people being hit with huge bills for health cover. None of us should have to pay anything for health care. Both are just as costly in care as smoking/weight. If more funds need to be collected for certain types of unhealthy behavior why not let the tobacco companies pick up the tab for smokers, fast food restaurants that don't serve healthy food (some do serve healthy food, like Qdoba) for the obese or have type 2 diabetes, if it is certain their condition is caused by unhealthy eating. I think that is a very good method. *Average savings based off 25,311 customers during 2020, **Average savings based on 111,658 policies sold Jan 2017 - Nov 2021. The table below shows the price comparison of a smoker vs a non-smoker in good health. That's up from 19% this year and only 8% in 2009. That means they have to go to the local charity hospital for treatment for care. Severance, a popular Emmy Award-winning show streaming on Apple TV+, is a rich cultural artifact. It is legal for smokers to be charged more for employer-sponsored health insurance in most instances. It is only fair that those who have negative behavior pay more for their health care. Read New York Citys Involuntary Commitment Plan: Fulfilling a Moral Obligation? Of course they should pay more. Comparisons are made on the basis of price only and different products may have different features and different levels of coverage. We really need a complete national group single payer medical coverage for all. You'll be able to breathe better. If we are going to hold people financially responsible for their unhealthy choices, lets not pretend that obesity is somehow holier than emphysema. In the case of smoking yes if they refuse to quit. These of course probably don't have insurance at all. 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 (!!! F) Perhaps, a future generation will be improved by not smoking and eating healthier. There are excellent intentions behind this policy smoking is the number one preventable cause of death and smokers disproportionately incur health care costs due to the debilitating diseases that result from the habit. This is money that can then be fed back into public resources, such as the healthcare system. 1 cause of preventable disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Then, would not liquor users be the next target. Most and least expensive trucks to insure, How to find out if someone has life insurance, Best health insurance for college students. By clicking Accept all you agree that Yahoo and our partners will process your personal information, and use technologies such as cookies, to display personalised ads and content, for ad and content measurement, audience insights, and product development. We do not charge a person more that jay walks and gets hit by a car and we do not charge the Gal that has a child every year more because she gives birth like a rabbit. It says smokers consume about 25% more health care services than nonsmokers. Experts say that smokers disproportionately have lower incomes, so that a premium surcharge will hit them especially hard. Read Should Ethicists Be at the Table in Public Health Policy Deliberations? Absolutely! Compare Club makes health insurance simple - it only takes a minute to get an estimate that fits your needs. The idea is also dead wrong. The second ethical argument for charging smokers higher insurance rates is that it is actuarially fair because individual insurance rates should be based on expected payouts. Responsible people who exercise and try to enhance their health should have greatly discounted rates. Compensation may impact where the Sponsors appear on this website (including the order in which they appear). In this atmosphere, employers must do what they can to control costs. We need a socialized medicine system like the rest of the modern world. But do ethicists belong at the table? With intense politicization of pediatric gender medicine, the U.S. needs a systematic review of the evidence for different care options. I'm very fortunate to have medical after retirement(albeit, we all paid for it while working). Hospitals charge a kings ransom for a box of Kleenex. When they get their habits under control then their premiums could also be lowered. This is not about poor genes. 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. Some view them as equivalents of nicotine chewing gum or nicotine skin patches, and others see the product as another form of tobacco use, as life insurers do. I realize this is a difficult area to try to control as some activites are based on genetic predisposition, etc. But not enough employees have signed up or improved their health. None surpassed Will. More profit. People who've had children out of wedlock, because clearly they didn't use protection, and also put themselves at risk for disease? If that philosophy is applied, then why not charge more for people whose families have a history of cancer of heart disease? Yes, I think that people who smoke and are obese should pay more in health insurance premiums to offset the increasing costs of their eventual care once they become ill as a result of their unhealthy lifestyle. In most cases, employees could qualify by participating in a wellness program or a smoking cessation class. Thus, in the name of anti-discrimination (tobacco lobby) and ensuring access for the poor (the anti-cancer groups). A person with emphsema is a tremendous cost to the health care system and it is primarily caused by smoking. As the fight against tobacco continues to evolve, so should our policy ideas. The main problem with the actuarial fairness argument is that different smokers may have different risks. I pay for an individual policy for our family, (we do not get health insurance through employment) and what most people don't realize is that insurance companies already practice this discrimination. Where would it end? Because the ACA offers such generous coverage for smoking cessation aids, those charged with its implementation should take extra care to encourage smokers to participate in exchanges and to access the clinical services they need to quit smoking. It concerns a team of office workers at a morally questionable company that performs brain surgery on employees to sever the consciousness of their work and personal lives. While the Affordable Care Act ends the era of denying people with pre-existing conditions access to health care, it allows insurance companies to charge tobacco users up to 50% more for their monthly premiums. Though smoking is often seen as an adult issue, we should continue to support the many excellent anti-smoking campaigns and participate in research that helps us understand how to encourage adolescents that have started smoking to kick some butt. 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? YES! I've given enough money for their addictively engineered products. Poor people can afford this expensive health hazard luxury? 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. We, AOL, are part of the Yahoo family of brands. You will be notified in advance of any changes in rate or terms. 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! And critics of higher rates for smokers say the practice can make health insurance unaffordable for many, especially those with lower incomes. But I don't think that's where the tax is going. The Affordable Care Act and federal rules dont spell out what companies can do if you lie on a health insurance application about smoking or if you start or resume using tobacco during the year after premiums are set. Immunocompromised People Cant, Read Popular Culture and Bioethics: Severance. Keep track of your milestones. Forget about being able to afford to go to a gym. The penalty for smoking will depend on where you live or work. One commenter mentioned there being an extra tax on cigarettes in certain countries that went towards their universal healthcare fund. As well as those who are too thin. Yes. Non-smokers in particular think that smokers should pay higher health insurance premiums: 65 percent of non-smokers expressed this opinion, compared with 38 percent of people who smoke only occasionally and 18 percent of those who smoke daily. smokers get the ass end of every stick, even though people do way stupider things that risk their lives. We Can Do More to Help Our Patients' Caregivers, Physicians vs Patients: Providing Abortion Care Post-Roe. Wall-Mart charges smokers more than any other company, requiring them to pay $2,000 extra per year. We have no control over these companies, their offers, website content, products/services, or the availability and nature of their products/services. Carol Duh-Leong is a medical student who blogs atProgress Notes. Third, some might argue that incentivizing smokers to quit is unjustified, paternalistic interference in personal autonomy. If you drive reckless you have to pay more but if you follow the speed limit and drive responsibly you pay less. While smokers pay much higher premiums for life cover, they generally do not pay more for health cover. And the fat cat CEO's should go on a compensation diet so that more of the money they collect in premiums goes to heath care. thank yu. I don't think making them pay more is the answer though. When insurance companies price smokers out of their products, we all pay. Heres where the tobacco surcharge runs into problems. Would he benefit enough from brain surgery? A couple that smokes one pack each day will spend between $3400.00 to $7300.00 a year. Check with a financial professional before making any decisions. Sounds like the Republican/Tea Party Health Care Reform Plan to mer. 2 out of 3 Australians thinks so. 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? No because they aren't going to lower the rates for those that aren't overweight and don't smoke..The rates are created for all by taking into consideration the overweight and the smokers..just like they take into consideration the chance of developing cancer.I grew up about the time a cure for polio was discoveredI don't remember the big refund check from the insurance companies when that threat was eliminated.Insurance companies are just looking to take in more bucks but those that aren't a problem will still pay the same high rates. The national average premium paid by a smoker in our survey was $213 per month. The best case scenario for immunocompromised people like me would be universal masking in all public spaces. Why stop at smokers and the obese. Jack Cafferty sounds off hourly on the Situation Room on the stories crossing his radar. A person who has been smoking two packs a day for 30 years has a significantly greater chance of developing lung cancer than someone who has been smoking only a few cigarettes a week for a few years. When an uninsured smoker gets emergently sick, that means hospitals and clinicians dont get reimbursed, which forces them to pass those costs on to people with insurance. While legal concerns exist, there are compelling reasons to implement a differential for smokers. Kytlehas extensive experience in client counseling, including matters involving employment practices, employee discipline, and wage and hour matters. This means you're less likely to wind up in hospital with a serious disease caused by smoking; in turn, this puts a reduced burden on your wallet.
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should smokers pay more for health insurance debate