Forget the carrot, here's the stick
Back in August Art wrote about company health plans that offer discounts for healthy behavior. He criticized the idea for being an invasion of privacy and added:
The emerging movement toward corporate health fascism is no friend to the chubby and wheezy among us. But, if allowed, corporate health policing won't stop there.
How long will it be before slackers will be told that discounts are over, and instead, surcharges on them will begin? Who will be next? The guy who skis on the weekends? The woman who wears high heels? What about the family that decides to have a baby, knowing the child may have sickle-cell disease or cystic fibrosis? Will companies be willing to put up with that sort of personal “irresponsibility”?
At least one employer is already headed down the punishment path. Clarian Health, an Indianapolis-based hospital system, recently announced that starting in 2009 it will fine employees $10 per paycheck if their body mass index, blood pressure or glucose levels are too high.
Add another employer to the list. Michael Mayo, a columnist for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, recently wrote on his blog about how his paper's parent company, Tribune, will be charging smokers -- or anyone with a smoking family member on their health plan -- an extra $100 per month for health insurance. And he's a little upset that the company bypassed the carrot and went straight for the stick:
Will there be fees for alcohol use? Eating fast food? Having high cholesterol? Not adhering to proper weight/body mass guidelines?
The other thing that gets me is that there’s no reward for not being a smoker. If the company imposed a surcharge on smokers and then gave a proportionate break to all the non-smokers I could maybe be a little more positive about the whole thing.
Instead, everyone’s premiums, deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket maximums are going up next year. In my case, my annual out-of-pocket maximum for each family member is going from $1,250 per person to $2,000 per person. And that’s not even including prescription drugs. And that’s in addition to my $4,000 share of the annual premium that I’m paying.
Yikes. I’ve seen the future, and it’s damn expensive.
It seems Mayo isn't the only one upset by the plan. Editor and Publisher reported this week that two union locals have filed grievances partly in response to the smoker surcharge.
-Greg Dahlmann
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