Employer charging smokers.. Thoughts?
lbetancourt
Posts: 522 Member
in Chit-Chat
so, starting in 2013 my employer will charge employees that smoke. i smoke on occassion. i don't know all the details as of yet but what I do know is that all employees will have to sign a waiver upon enrollment for insurance. basically i must certify that I had been a non-tobacco user for the 12 months immediately prior to completing my enrollment. since i can't certify this, i am subject to a $40 monthly premium deducted from my pay. i understand that smoking can lead to lifelong medical expenses. in my city, the largest medical claims are high blood pressure/ hypertension back & join pain. every year i get a medical exam & i get consistently get a clean bill of health. i excercise and watch what i eat. as i understand, one cause of high blood pressure is smoking, but it's also caused by being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity, poor diet etc. so, why target smokers only??
just wondering thoughts on this? and, yes, i know smoking is bad for me. wah wah.
just wondering thoughts on this? and, yes, i know smoking is bad for me. wah wah.
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Replies
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Sounds like its the insurance company charging it, not your employer. Most insurance companies do.0
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Good for them.0
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Some employers have incintives and punishments for other health markers as well.
I see both sides of this. Smoking employees leads to all kinds of hassles for businesses.
And if I understand correct, the increase in deduction is not your employers fault directly, but added by your health insurance, correct?0 -
I think it's a good idea.
Where I live, if you smoke, you get a smoke break. If you don't smoke, too bad for you!0 -
I think it's a good idea.
Where I live, if you smoke, you get a smoke break. If you don't smoke, too bad for you!
the main reason my wife smoked in HS...as a waitress it's the only way she got a break "like everyone else".0 -
i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.0
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My opinion is it makes sense b/c smokers cost a company more in medical bills. I'm no doctor but I read that smokers will get sick easier than non-smokers, have a higher risk of developing cancers, heart disease (even if blood pressure is not high), and other diease that simply makes a smoker more expensive than an identical person who did not smoke.0
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so, starting in 2013 my employer will charge employees that smoke. i smoke on occassion. i don't know all the details as of yet but what I do know is that all employees will have to sign a waiver upon enrollment for insurance. basically i must certify that I had been a non-tobacco user for the 12 months immediately prior to completing my enrollment. since i can't certify this, i am subject to a $40 monthly premium deducted from my pay. i understand that smoking can lead to lifelong medical expenses. in my city, the largest medical claims are high blood pressure/ hypertension back & join pain. every year i get a medical exam & i get consistently get a clean bill of health. i excercise and watch what i eat. as i understand, one cause of high blood pressure is smoking, but it's also caused by being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity, poor diet etc. so, why target smokers only??
just wondering thoughts on this? and, yes, i know smoking is bad for me. wah wah.
As an ex-smoker, why flirt with these issues? I'm not a rabid anti-smoker, but I can't help but asking why you smoke when you drink?0 -
Good, nasty habit....but job security for my mother.....0
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i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.
I agree0 -
Sounds like its the insurance company charging it, not your employer. Most insurance companies do.
This.0 -
Sounds like its the insurance company charging it, not your employer. Most insurance companies do.
This would be my guess too, and the employers are just passing along the charge to the employees instead of paying it themselves. It does kind of stink that smokers are being targeted when there are SO many other bad habits that people have that may cause them to utilize their health insurance more often than others. For example, people who don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom. Shouldn't the insurance company charge more money for this?0 -
i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.
Never heard of someone getting fat sitting next to an overweight person.0 -
i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.
come up with a definition of obese for a company to use as a blanket policy...0 -
I agree. Fat (yes, I said fat) people should be charged the same amount. Where are the studies about the medical costs of overweight people? Same for alcoholics.i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.0 -
When you smoke you knowingly put a poison or toxin into your body.....being fat and eating too much, whilst unhealthy, isn't a poison or toxin......maybe?0
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As an ex-smoker, why flirt with these issues? I'm not a rabid anti-smoker, but I can't help but asking why you smoke when you drink?
I can't speak for her, but alcohol and cigarettes are a match made in heaven. So. damn. good.0 -
Wow well if that's the case they should charge more for everything a person does that can cause increased risks including smoking, being overweight, family history, etc. I work in the ER and lots of our staff smokes (nurses and 2 doctors) - they go out the ambulance bay on the side of the ER and take their smoke breaks. Even though the hospital has a no smoking campus wide ordinance.
I don't think ONE group should be targeted. If you are going to target one group, you need to target ALL.0 -
Good for them.
Until they do it to fat people, THEN it's discrimination and bullying. Right?
:noway:0 -
The insurance companies charge it as a risk factor, similar to auto insurance charging more for an 18-year old driver versus a 40-year old driver.
If the insurance companies start charging more for obese patients, those costs will eventually get passed on as well.
I'm not sure how your employer can enforce this, though. How would they verify if someone is a smoker, especially if (like you) they only smoke when drinking? Weight goes into a medical record, but smoking doesn't (unless you admit to it). I'm genuinely curious about this.0 -
My opinion is it makes sense b/c smokers cost a company more in medical bills. I'm no doctor but I read that smokers will get sick easier than non-smokers, have a higher risk of developing cancers, heart disease (even if blood pressure is not high), and other diease that simply makes a smoker more expensive than an identical person who did not smoke.
How do you figure? I smoked for 20 years and not once did I go to the hospital for anything "smoking" related.0 -
i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.
You are a risk to the insurance company. It doesn't matter when you smoke/how much you smoke, but the fact that you do poses a significant risk to the insurance company that they'll have to pay more money on your medical bills down the road. My insurance company definitely jacks the premium based on obesity too. I think it's perfectly fair for them to do this. Any other kind of insurance does the same thing (car, home ownership, etc). It's just another of the millions of incentives to lead a healthy lifestyle.0 -
I agree with it. I work in the finance dpt of my company and I see the increasing health care costs. My company pays 100% of the premiums and a few employees are driving the premiums up with huge claims. Rather than demand a few pay an increased premium we opted for a Wellness initiative, every employee had to have bloodwork done and reviewed by their doctor and physical done to keep their premiums free, otherwise they'd be responsible for 25% of the premium. This worked out really well and one employee said it even saved his life.
Your company is just doing something similar. Mitigating the cost to the non smokers who are less at risk by charging the smokers more.
Car insurance companies do the same thing. Progressive even has a thing you can opt in where it sends you a device which records for a month the times you are driving (4 am saturday morning is a high risk time) and how many times you hit the brake hard. By recording low risk driving the premium can drop significantly.0 -
Agreed. Smoking is yes/no. Weight is trickier. They can't use weight/BMI as a blanket measurement because that will punish athletes who are full of beefcakey muscley goodness. There's no way to check a box for "Yes" or "No" like there is with smoking.i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.
come up with a definition of obese for a company to use as a blanket policy...0 -
I think it's a good idea.
Where I live, if you smoke, you get a smoke break. If you don't smoke, too bad for you!
the main reason my wife smoked in HS...as a waitress it's the only way she got a break "like everyone else".
I was in the cracker factory years ago and pretended to smoke so I could get up at night. Only smokers could. It is hard to pretend to smoke.0 -
i only smoke when i drink... so, i dont take breaks to smoke at work. and, i dont know where this money goes, i will learn more later. in my head, why not charge folks that are obese with awful eating habits & that are sedentary.
My company makes smokers ether go through a stop smoking program or pay the extra premium. They also make the obese with 2 out of 3 indicators for metabolic syndrome go to a weight loss program like naturally slim or weight watchers or they have to pay extra as well.
The result a drastic decrease in the number of smokers and a huge reduction in the cases of metabolic syndrome in my company...0 -
I wouldn't worry about it. I would sign the waiver as a non-smoker. Occasionally having a smoke doesn't hurt anything. I would keep in mind that they can test you for it by swabbing your mouth.0
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As an HR rep, I know the extreme cost of having smokers on a group plan. I don't blame the insurance companies or the employer for charging a fee for smoking. Smoking is something you can control. Most plans will even give you free resources for stopping.0
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so, starting in 2013 my employer will charge employees that smoke. i smoke on occassion. i don't know all the details as of yet but what I do know is that all employees will have to sign a waiver upon enrollment for insurance. basically i must certify that I had been a non-tobacco user for the 12 months immediately prior to completing my enrollment. since i can't certify this, i am subject to a $40 monthly premium deducted from my pay. i understand that smoking can lead to lifelong medical expenses. in my city, the largest medical claims are high blood pressure/ hypertension back & join pain. every year i get a medical exam & i get consistently get a clean bill of health. i excercise and watch what i eat. as i understand, one cause of high blood pressure is smoking, but it's also caused by being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity, poor diet etc. so, why target smokers only??
just wondering thoughts on this? and, yes, i know smoking is bad for me. wah wah.
I popped open this thread completely ready to tell you to talk to a lawyer. Upon actually reading what's going on, it's the insurance company that is charging that premium, not your employer, and you have the option of opting out by not enrolling into the company's insurance plan. It's an entirely reasonable fee, and many insurance companies also carry additional fees for obesity and such. Why doesn't that company? It's entirely possible that it is due to them having a greater knowledge of who is incurring these costs than you have and they've found that it is the smokers.0 -
I wouldn't worry about it. I would sign the waiver as a non-smoker. Occasionally having a smoke doesn't hurt anything. I would keep in mind that they can test you for it by swabbing your mouth.
Fraud is always a good bet0
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