Remember last week when I pondered that the State Health Plan should look at charging people who are overweight or smokers more for their health insurance? Well, look what's happening.
State legislative leaders rolled out a bill today that seeks to keep
the State Health Plan solvent by reducing some benefits and raising
premiums by less than eight percent each year over the next two years.
Those members who smoke or are seriously overweight would be forced
into the state's most expensive health coverage option that carries the
highest deductibles and co-payments.
the State Health Plan solvent by reducing some benefits and raising
premiums by less than eight percent each year over the next two years.
Those members who smoke or are seriously overweight would be forced
into the state's most expensive health coverage option that carries the
highest deductibles and co-payments.
Create incentives to stop destructive and costly behavior. If we are going to discourage people from being unhealthy, the one sure way to get their attention is to hit them in the wallet.
Yea, get the smokers and fatties first.
Then we can work on the people that drink alcohol, the people that eat red meat, the people that don’t exercise daily, the people that……….
Most employers and certainly all market rate off the shelf insurance policies have different costs for smokers vs non-smokers. Why should the state make everyone pay for a riskier pool who chooses riskier behavior? This slippery slope argument is silly because the free market will dictate that only the highest risk behaviors will warrant policy premiums. If the masses all engage in the same risky behavior the insurers have no cusotmers if they don’t cover that risk. The smoking premium never came up when 75% of the world smoked 50 years ago. (I clearly made up that %)