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July 9, 2007
Higher Insurance Premiums On the Way for Obese Workers?
So asks this article in the Workforce Management:
A small but growing number of employers charge smokers more for their health care than they do for nonsmokers. But as evidence continues to link unhealthy lifestyle choices to health care costs and lost productivity, another question arises: Are obese workers next?
If you ask employees, the answer is a "maybe." In a recent survey by the National Business Group on Health, 65 percent of 1,619 employees at large companies said they believe smokers should be charged more for health care than nonsmokers. About 49 percent surveyed said they would support higher premiums for obese workers.
Would such a program be violation of HIPAA or other laws as discrimination based on a health-related factor?
[Wayne N. Burton, JPMorgan’s corporate medical director,] is doubtful that such a program for obese workers would pass legal muster. Federal HIPAA guidelines prohibit differentiating premiums based on medical conditions, with the exception of smoking. Employers can offer discounts to nonsmokers, as in the case of JPMorgan, if they offer smokers programs to help them quit.
Will HIPAA be amended to provide an exception for obesity like there is for smoking as long as employers offer programs for employees to lose weight? If not, why not? Is there a good reason to distinguish between the two scenarios?
PS
July 9, 2007 in Pension and Benefits | Permalink
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Comments
I'm neither overweight nor smoke, not that it should matter, but the intrusion in the personal life of employees is infuriating. These employers are treating their employees, and potential employees, as commodities, which they try to obtain at the lowest cost possible, rather than respecting the individual persons that they are. I believe that this is discrimination on par with the protected categories under Title VI. What one does on his off-duty time should not be of any concern to one's employer as long as the employee is able to do the job that he was hired to do. It's only because demonizing tobacco is socially acceptable and that physical health and long life are the greatest goods these days that employers are able to discriminate in these areas with impunity. Just wait until prohibition becomes popular again. Perhaps then we'll hear the outrage that this conduct by employers deserves.
Posted by: Christopher Timmermans | Jul 9, 2007 2:55:24 PM
