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Do you think obese/overweight people should pay more for health insurance?
Replies
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This isn't a zero sum game, of course. Most health insurance is priced at group rates. So if a penalty isn't put on overweight people, we ALL pay the additional costs. They just raise the prices on the whole group overall the next time the employer negogiates with the insurance company.1
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NorthCascades wrote: »This "slippery slope" argument doesn't hold water. Young men already pay more for auto insurance than young woman, and the world hasn't ended.
Here in the EU gender equality for car insurance was made a law in 2012. It's no longer legal to charge someone more because they are male.8 -
Just found out my job doesn't charge for being obese but if you go and get a health screening, and work on what they tell you to work on, you get a $250 health spending card.2
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I worked in public health, specifically related to cancer prevention. I saw patients suffer and many who passrd away from cancer due to their poor lifestyle choices i.e. years of smoking, poor nutrition, obesity, etc. I also have friends and family who died from heart attacks and strokes based on their poor lifestyle choices.
I do not know if charging obese patients more for their health insurance would be enough motivation for patients to make permanent, lifestyle changes. Usually it takes a brush with death, cancer, triple bypass surgery, heart attack stroke, etc. for people to wake up and realize they need to make changes or they will die.
You can hit a person's wallet only so much, but we really need to help people with preventative health education, especially basic nutrition education and teaching people about the health benefits of exercise. Then you add socioeconomic factors, lack of accessibility to healthy food such as fresh fruits and vegs, cultural dynamics associated with their diet/nutrition, etc. so it is a big debate and a huge issue, especially in the U.S.
Not sure if there is an easy answer or solution.
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No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?6
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No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. ]]
That's a great applause line but we all know that it's far, far more complex than that.
It begs the question :
What is healthcare ?
i.e.
Where does one draw the line on services?
And, of course, who pays for it?
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Definitely. People who are more at risk should pay more. As a young male, I pay more for car insurance then almost everybody. The same should apply to healthcare.1
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Should older people pay more for health insurance? How about health care? Should a doctor charge a 60 year old more than a 20 year old for the same procedure?3
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Absolutely not! Obese people as well as others with serious health conditions (such as old people) should not carry an extra burden. Instead of blaming obese people for their condition which is a tricky combination of physical and mental issues - more should be invested into prevention, research, and treatment. The world is dealing with this problem for less than fifty years.
Making someone pay for being sick is cruel.3 -
No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.6 -
No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
As Senator Paul pointed out. That's called slavery.4 -
It doesn't necessarily need to be a slippery slope issue or about punishment and reward. Healthcare is a service provided to individuals. Those that use that service more often, for whatever reason, ought to pay more than those that use it less frequently. This should also account for more expensive treatments. I don't really understand why anyone would think that it's fair or beneficial to a society to essentially force others to pay for my bad luck and/or poor life choices.3
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No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
But everyone who buys health insurance is forcing other people to pay for their healthcare....that's how it works. Whatever is billed to your insurance company by a Dr is paid from a pool of money that other people have paid into. The only way you can truly enact this belief is to not buy health insurance but self pay for every health expense.3 -
stanmann571 wrote: »No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
As Senator Paul pointed out. That's called slavery.
Oh so calling 911 for fire, or police is actually calling up "slaves" is it? How so? Everyone pays taxes for these services no matter how much they need/use them.7 -
stanmann571 wrote: »No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
As Senator Paul pointed out. That's called slavery.
Oh so calling 911 for fire, or police is actually calling up "slaves" is it? How so? Everyone pays taxes for these services no matter how much they need/use them.
Yes I pay for those services.
And if they went away it wouldn't be the loss of a human right.3 -
stanmann571 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
As Senator Paul pointed out. That's called slavery.
Oh so calling 911 for fire, or police is actually calling up "slaves" is it? How so? Everyone pays taxes for these services no matter how much they need/use them.
Yes I pay for those services.
And if they went away it wouldn't be the loss of a human right.
No, you don't directly pay for those services. You pay towards the cost of them via taxes. The pool of taxes paid by everyone then pays for these services. It's same concept as health insurance. You aren't charged more taxes if you've been mugged or otherwise a victim of a crime or if you've carelessly burnt your house down due to playing with matches and hair spray.5 -
No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
But everyone who buys health insurance is forcing other people to pay for their healthcare....that's how it works. Whatever is billed to your insurance company by a Dr is paid from a pool of money that other people have paid into. The only way you can truly enact this belief is to not buy health insurance but self pay for every health expense.
Well we did not used to be forced by government to purchase health insurance, so people had a choice.
This is not how it works, but a simplistic facade. When you wonder why healthcare costs are so expensive look no further than the price exchange programs managed by government, insurance, wholesale distributors, hospital networks, and pharmaceutical/medical device companies.
We would be far better off removing insurance from this process.1 -
stanmann571 wrote: »No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
As Senator Paul pointed out. That's called slavery.
Oh so calling 911 for fire, or police is actually calling up "slaves" is it? How so? Everyone pays taxes for these services no matter how much they need/use them.
Fire, EMT, police services are all government employees.
Are you going to nationalize physicians, nurses, and all medical personnel?1 -
No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
But everyone who buys health insurance is forcing other people to pay for their healthcare....that's how it works. Whatever is billed to your insurance company by a Dr is paid from a pool of money that other people have paid into. The only way you can truly enact this belief is to not buy health insurance but self pay for every health expense.
Well we did not used to be forced by government to purchase health insurance, so people had a choice.
This is not how it works, but a simplistic facade. When you wonder why healthcare costs are so expensive look no further than the price exchange programs managed by government, insurance, wholesale distributors, hospital networks, and pharmaceutical/medical device companies.
We would be far better off removing insurance from this process.
Healthcare costs are outrageously high in the US because it's based on private insurance. I agree removing the entire insurance industry would make things much better for all concerned ( except the people who own and work for health insurance companies...they'd have to retrain and find new jobs). A single payer system is the best system out there to date imho.
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stanmann571 wrote: »No. Everyone should be entitled to the same level of healthcare. I feel it's a basic human right. It's similar to charging people more who have a pre existing condition. What else, are we going to charge people more who have a genetic predisposition to certain Illnesses?
Basic human rights would be life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
You have no right to demand services provided by another individual.
As Senator Paul pointed out. That's called slavery.
Oh so calling 911 for fire, or police is actually calling up "slaves" is it? How so? Everyone pays taxes for these services no matter how much they need/use them.
Fire, EMT, police services are all government employees.
Are you going to nationalize physicians, nurses, and all medical personnel?
Yes.5
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