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by crackerjack
on Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:48 pm |
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County workers who smoke will soon pay a surcharge on their health insurance.
FORT LAUDERDALE - Add smokers and unhealthy employees to the list of targets in Broward County government's effort to cut spending. And overweight workers could be next.
Government workers who smoke will pay higher health insurance premiums if they don't quit by the end of the year. Employees also will pay more if they refuse to participate in an annual health assessment and a blood test that screens for high cholesterol and diabetes.
Each surcharge will add $520 a year to the premiums deducted from employee paychecks. That's a big windfall for county government, where the cost of health insurance for 5,800 workers tops $47 million a year.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/sfl-smoking-broward-work-091809,0,3288522.story |
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crackerjack
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by garhkal
on Mon Sep 21, 2009 5:09 pm |
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| If it applied equially to city officials, i would be all for it. BUT you can bet your butt they wont. |
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garhkal
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by crackerjack
on Mon Sep 21, 2009 8:13 pm |
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Well the problem I have with this is that they are setting a precedent. There will be nothing stopping companies from forcing their employees to submit to a nicotine test and blood test to see if they are living an unhealthy life and then penalize them if they do.
Testing peoples lifestyle to determine their personal cost of health coverage in my opinion is unconstitutional.
Time to bring in the ACLU. |
Last edited by crackerjack on Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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crackerjack
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by patdaly
on Mon Sep 21, 2009 9:44 pm |
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Then if they expect me to be sick since I "smoke", I will utilize $ 520 dollars a year in sick days.
Screw em. |
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patdaly
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by crackerjack
on Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:51 am |
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Spoke to a friend who is a ACLU volunteer attorney and apparently they can't do anything unless somebody who this affects asks them to get involved.
So....if you are out there and this affects you.....call the ACLU already.
Just think in a few years they could say
Eating red meant = living an unhealthy life.
Being single and having more than one sex partner = living an unhealthy life.
Gay/lesbian = living an unhealthy life.
Drinking beer = living an unhealthy life.
Not drinking 8 glasses of water a day = living an unhealthy life. |
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crackerjack
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by garhkal
on Tue Sep 22, 2009 4:48 pm |
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| Here, since you live an unhealthy lifestyle you will be pushed out of society. Go live in LA! |
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garhkal
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by libertarian99
on Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:49 pm |
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It's too bad health officials aren't farsighted enough to contemplate what will actually happen in the real world as a result of all their meddling. We are headed towards a nightmare world where people are forced to adhere to lifestyles which are intended to extend their life, but in the long run will create more human suffering than anyone yet realizes.
No one really knows what long-term side effects preventive meds like statins are going to have. I suspect the main reason that my mother has outlived her grandmother, who died of a heart attack at age 89, is the fact that my mother has taken statins and Plavix for years.
My grandmother lived an active life and ended up dying of heart failure. The day before she died, she was out playing cards and still had a pretty sharp mind. She was able to live alone until the end, calling cabs any time she wanted to go out.
My mother, who has so far outlived her own mother by two years, has Alzheimer's and is unable to live alone or manage her own affairs. She has to be reminded to eat every meal. She has forgotten who close relatives are and can't remember where the dishes go in a house she's lived in for 50 years.
Did the medical etablishment accomplish anything by extending my mother's life with their miracle drugs? If I had to choose, I would choose to live as my grandmother did, remaining independent but dying a few years earlier. Had my mother died at the same age, she would have been spared the suffering she has endured these past two years as her mind has slowly and inexorably deteriorated.
There is definitely a down side to extending life beyond the limits of a person's natural lifespan, but right now I seem to be one of the few people who has noticed that. Everyone else seems to be blindly rushing down a path that I know they will not enjoy very much, once they see the reality of it.
This is a human rights issue of critical importance. Our right to control our own body should be sancrosanct. It's the most basic of human rights. No one has the right to decide for anyone else that they must adhere to a lifestyle that puts them at an increased risk of enduring severe dementia for 5-10 years past the point where they would have normally died.
When are people going to wake up? The incidence of Alzheimer's is exploding. If the government thinks smoking puts a burden on the health care system, they ain't seen nothin' yet. The cost of treating Alzheimer's is expected to run into the trillions of dollars.
CNN ran a story about it yesterday. Here's a link to it.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/21/alzheimers.disease.report/index.html?eref=ib_topstories |
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libertarian99
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by Smoker Sympathizer
on Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:44 pm |
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| Something tells me that misery and coercion that comes from this kind of crap will be far more unhealthy than people indulging in things they enjoy. I would love to see the full weight of the legal system come down on every entity that pushes this. I personally don't think the ACLU would have the guts. Employers are just that; they pay for our skills and our time. They are not our masters and we are not slaves. We do not work 24/7. They have 0 right to tell us how to live. That's all this is about. You'll never convince me that a smoker who might go to the doctor once every couple years for a checkup costs more than a health nut who goes constantly over every little thing. I used to be a much nicer person. The whole nanny state thing has become too much for me to bear and I've become embittered. |
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Smoker Sympathizer
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by Pete Gatti
on Wed Sep 23, 2009 2:07 am |
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Smoker Sympathizer wrote: I used to be a much nicer person. The whole nanny state thing has become too much for me to bear and I've become embittered.
Same here, every friggin' day we are inundated with healthist propaganda. I'm going to be 68 next week, I've been smoking going on 54 years and I have never spent a single day in hospital. I could probably count on my fingers the number of times I've gone to a doctor. Yet I have to endure the constant crap about how much of a drain smokers are on healthcare just so they have an excuse to reach into my pocket. Yes, I know exactly how you feel. |
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Pete Gatti
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by joeshmoe
on Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:40 am |
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Smokers are really good for the economy, we give jobs to
people who work on the tabaco factories, in pantations. If you are
going to think of it in a morbid side, doctors earn a lot from smokers also.Th society treat
smokers like a different race or something but in reality smokers contribute a lot to the economy. |
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joeshmoe
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