Health Insurance Frustration
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MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »stephaniels0416 wrote: »MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »stephaniels0416 wrote: »I'm unclear why you see this as pressure from other people. You're not being told you have to lose weight or have to be a certain weight. The company is trying to save money and help it's employees save money. You're not upset you get rewarded for not smoking, but you're upset you won't get rewarded for being in the obese category of the BMI chart? It's just a discount you may not get this year and have something to look forward to getting next year. It's not a big deal. You're stressing yourself out over nothing.
I'm one of those people that has to pay my own insurance for $425 a month. If I was offered the options for discounts, I'd be thrilled. I'd get the one for not smoking, and with a BMI of 29.9, I'd be finding out the true cut off requirements and working my butt off to try to make sure that didn't turn into a 30 before I did my physical, but if it did, who cares? I'm already paying the regular amount, I'm not getting penalized and having to pay extra, and I'd know next year what discounts were available and what I had to hit to be eligible so I had a goal to work toward.
Just take a breath and stop looking at the whole thing as a personal assault. They have to inform everyone about what's going on. It's the law. They have to send letters. You're not being singled out. It wasn't that they got together, made a list of overweight people, and bombarded them with notifications. The size 2 people got all the same notices.
I can quote the fact that I stated earlier that I don't feel personally victimized. I can also restate once again that I personally don't have a problem with them giving an added discount, and that I actually like my insurance/job etc.
The issue that was making me frustrated is I'm not personally sure how to handle added stress from an outside source when I'm trying to lose weight - because I personally do not handle this well. That's it. This is not so much a problem with my company/insurance etc, it's a problem that is me against myself.
But why is it added stress from an outside source? It has nothing to do with you. You've got your plan, you're doing well with it, and right up until you got that first notice you were doing great and happy. Stick with that. So you may not get a discount this year, so what? You've still made a lot of progress, you've got a plan, you're going to continue to make progress. Just let it go and don't worry about it.
Part of why I needed to post about this is so I could figure it out and get it off my chest. I am already feeling better about it. If I didn't post this thread, I probably would have over analyzed it by myself, and it wouldn't have ended well. I do believe now that I will get past this small bump.
Good
Now start looking into doctors, find one you might like, and go in with an open mind. If you love the first one, great. If not, just nod your head until you can leave (or tell them off if you want, but I don't get the feeling that's your personality), and move on to the next one. Finding a doctor is like dating - you might have to go through some awful ones before you find your "one". 0 -
MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »I'm a little frustrated at something my company is doing. I understand that it's for the benefit of the employees, but it makes me a little upset because I feel like it's being pushed on us.We pay for our own health benefits. The wellness screening offers us a discount on our insurance. With the non smoking discount I pay approx 170-180 a month.
The first thing you said seems to hint that this is health insurance offered (meaning at least partially paid for) by your employer, but...
If you pay for your own health insurance and your employer contributes nothing, why not go with another company altogether that does things differently?
To be honest with you I don't know if they contribute or not. I know that if I didn't get the non smoking discount it would cost me around 300 a month, just for me. It's good insurance, and I'm grateful my company offers it. I actually love my job 99% of the time besides this.
The real issue I am having is more to do with my company shoving the fact that they want us to lose weight down our throats. I got a phone call and two emails in two days about this, and they sent a letter to my house about it. I don't mind that they're offering an extra incentive. I just don't like all the spam it comes with. I don't feel personally victimized or anything like that, it's just hard to handle since I don't handle outside pressure well when it comes to my weight. This is really my own personal issue with myself- I need to not psych myself out.
They aren't shoving anything down your throat. They are offering an incentive. Also, at the incredibly low rate you're paying each month, I'd almost guarantee that your company contributes. This means it's also an incentive for them since statistically, they'll pay less in health care costs in the long run.0 -
MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »shellenbarger007 wrote: »I understand being upset about your employer being too concerned with your health/private life, but I’m just curious: are you equally upset about the discount your employer offers for nonsmokers?
Smoking, like being overweight, can have negative health effects. If you are ok with your company offering a discount for one, what’s wrong with them offering a similar discount for the other?
I'm not exactly upset about the discount in general. I'm upset that I'm worried it's going to make me overthink the whole process because I don't do well with deadlines on things like this. I'm trying to take the least stressful approach to weight loss for myself, which is no deadline. I can't become obsessive about food again.
It's their deadline, not yours. As others have said, your insurance won't go away.
Please read everything else I've said. this is not really about the insurance I'm basically recovering from disordered eating issues, and I've had issues with binge eating in the past. I don't always see things from a logical point of view, and so while logically I understand that this has nothing to do with me, last night when I originally posted this I wasn't in the greatest mindset, I just felt like I needed to express why it was upsetting me. I was perceiving it as outside pressure to lose weight, which is something I have never dealt well with. For example: The last time my aunt decided to lecture me on how I should stop eating bread altogether and that I should only eat corn once a week because starch=debil in her eyes, I went out and got roasted corn and ate an entire cheese pizza by myself because it pissed me off so much.0 -
I know that health insurance can be cheaper for non-smokers, but I've never heard of a health insurance that overs lowers rates if your BIMI is below something.
I didn't know about the lowered rates, but I did learn that employers are focusing on BMI for drivers who must have a CDL (commercial drivers license). A BMI over 30 requires the employee/driver to have a sleep study done, at their own cost. After reading this thread I'm guessing its because of pressure by their insurance company. My doctor told me this during my last DOT physical. I'm finally right at an acceptable BMI, according to the height she has on my chart in her office (although I'm an inch shorter than she has recorded). She said the main reason insurers are doing this to commercial drivers is because they think there is a correlation between sleep apnea and vehicle accidents in commercial vehicles, and a correlation between a BMI of over 30, and sleep apnea.
So I guess it makes sense that insurance companies think a BMI over 30 affects health and are willing to pass on savings to employers, who pass it on to employees in an effort to mitigate claims due to "lifestyle" affects on health.
Not at all sure I like where this is going in the long run, as it does seem a huge invasion of privacy. But I'm sure it will continue to fly since money is involved and most people are probably willing to have their privacy invaded if it saves them money.
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MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »shellenbarger007 wrote: »I understand being upset about your employer being too concerned with your health/private life, but I’m just curious: are you equally upset about the discount your employer offers for nonsmokers?
Smoking, like being overweight, can have negative health effects. If you are ok with your company offering a discount for one, what’s wrong with them offering a similar discount for the other?
I'm not exactly upset about the discount in general. I'm upset that I'm worried it's going to make me overthink the whole process because I don't do well with deadlines on things like this. I'm trying to take the least stressful approach to weight loss for myself, which is no deadline. I can't become obsessive about food again.
It's their deadline, not yours. As others have said, your insurance won't go away.
Please read everything else I've said. this is not really about the insurance I'm basically recovering from disordered eating issues, and I've had issues with binge eating in the past. I don't always see things from a logical point of view, and so while logically I understand that this has nothing to do with me, last night when I originally posted this I wasn't in the greatest mindset, I just felt like I needed to express why it was upsetting me. I was perceiving it as outside pressure to lose weight, which is something I have never dealt well with. For example: The last time my aunt decided to lecture me on how I should stop eating bread altogether and that I should only eat corn once a week because starch=debil in her eyes, I went out and got roasted corn and ate an entire cheese pizza by myself because it pissed me off so much.
Okay. This sounds like a good topic for a therapist.0 -
MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »I know that health insurance can be cheaper for non-smokers, but I've never heard of a health insurance that overs lowers rates if your BIMI is below something.
It's a new thing because they looked at the results from last year's wellness screen and something like 40% of us have BMI's in the "obese" category.
They're also offering us discounted memberships to weight watchers starting in March. I will not be taking part in that because I personally (and let me clarify- this is my opinion, I understand if you don't agree with me) don't like weight watchers because I feel like they don't promote healthy views on food. They used to claim that you could eat whatever you wanted in moderation, and the superbowl commercial they just recently put out basically equated junk food to deadly drugs.
Blue Cross (at least in Louisiana where I am) offers discounts to Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig. They just sent out a survey a month or two ago asking about what their subscribers thought of the discounted healthy lifestyle things they offer. The gym memberships, shoe discounts, etc. are great, but it's not healthy to pitch living off of processed foods. People need to learn about food and calories and how choosing healthy vs junk affects them. I put in the comments they should be pointing people to MFP or at least over to WW (not that I agree with their philosophy either) so they were eating real food and learning about a lifestyle change.0 -
MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »MindySaysWhaaat wrote: »shellenbarger007 wrote: »I understand being upset about your employer being too concerned with your health/private life, but I’m just curious: are you equally upset about the discount your employer offers for nonsmokers?
Smoking, like being overweight, can have negative health effects. If you are ok with your company offering a discount for one, what’s wrong with them offering a similar discount for the other?
I'm not exactly upset about the discount in general. I'm upset that I'm worried it's going to make me overthink the whole process because I don't do well with deadlines on things like this. I'm trying to take the least stressful approach to weight loss for myself, which is no deadline. I can't become obsessive about food again.
It's their deadline, not yours. As others have said, your insurance won't go away.
Please read everything else I've said. this is not really about the insurance I'm basically recovering from disordered eating issues, and I've had issues with binge eating in the past. I don't always see things from a logical point of view, and so while logically I understand that this has nothing to do with me, last night when I originally posted this I wasn't in the greatest mindset, I just felt like I needed to express why it was upsetting me. I was perceiving it as outside pressure to lose weight, which is something I have never dealt well with. For example: The last time my aunt decided to lecture me on how I should stop eating bread altogether and that I should only eat corn once a week because starch=debil in her eyes, I went out and got roasted corn and ate an entire cheese pizza by myself because it pissed me off so much.
Okay. This sounds like a good topic for a therapist.
The good news is that I'm recovering. I haven't binged in almost two months, and I've been working on a healthier relationship with food. Part of why this whole thing struck me is that it's the first problem I'm looking at since I started losing weight this time, and I need to make sure I'm not using it as an excuse to fail.0 -
Dont take the discount then. Simplez. Why bother wasting your energy worrying at something you say isnt going to affect you?0
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I have an option to knock a significant amount off my deductible if I do a certain number of preventive care things. Including a phone counseling session for anyone with a certain bmi and above. It's not mandatory but it's being pushed pretty hard and yes, there's feeling of being pressured. The bottom line is the bottom line-not about health but reducing health insurance. cost for the employer. I don't like being a pawn in the middle of those economics. Yes, my choice to participate or not is recorded. Yuck-its the whole problem of ins. being tied to employment. It weird me out too.0
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stephaniels0416 wrote: »Lynette4321 wrote: »I totally get your frustration with this! It's so intrusive.
Seriously. And what's next? As high tech diagnostic procedures become more commonplace and affordable, I wonder if insurance companies will require applicants to get PET scans to rule out the possibility of tumors before they insure.
If I could get scanned and tested and pay less because heart disease, cancer, etc. don't run in my family and I'm at a minimal risk, I'd be thrilled. The health care system is like paying into all the government programs. I make too much to ever be eligible for any of them if I ever needed them, but I still have to pay into them. Healthcare works the same way - the healthy people pay for the sick people. It's not fair, but it's how the world works.
You could get scanned if you could pay for it. And just because you play by the rules that tell you you're living a "healthy" lifestyle doesn't mean you would be exempt from an unpleasant surprise if you got a PET scan. Not to be a scaremonger but I work as a nurse and have seen seemingly healthy people with no troubling symptoms get a tumor diagnosis.
Also sometimes people have a tumor - even a malignant one - which for unknown reasons does not grow or move or change. It just stays the same year after year and they live life as any other functional and reasonably healthy person does. If scans such as these became mandatory for insurance coverage, these unusual people who can live for years with cancer would be denied health insurance. And how unusual this scenario is is actually unknown. It's possible that a lot more people than we're aware of fall into this category.
Because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer deny people coverage - even those with a pre-existing condition. That's part of the problem with Obamacare. I'm a healthy person that only uses my insurance for my annual exam and birth control prescription, but my plan went up $45/month this year because so many people that didn't have insurance now qualified for free or discounted healthcare last year while healthy people weighed their options on whether they'd get coverage or wait until it was required this year. The intention was for the healthy people's premiums to offset the non-healthy people's premiums, but it didn't work out that way.
I'm not saying this as my opinion, my mom works in healthcare on the plan administration side. It also wasn't supposed to matter where you lived, you'd pay the same amount for the same plan, but if you enter the zip codes around metro Detroit (where I'm from and she lives), the wealthier zip codes have higher premiums for the same sex/age/income demographics.0 -
Ipersonally feel that it is not your employer's place to do this. I suppose it must be legal, but oh my God. It's your body over which you should be sovereign. You don't belong to them body and soul. They hire your labor for 8 hours a day. This is more than a little intrusive on their part and it makes me angry. Sadly, you and I as workers have no control over this. So considering that you're faced with this nanny-state crap, I suppose that it's in your best interest to steer clear of all nicotine products and to monitor your BMI so that you qualify for the lower rate. I hope it's feasible for you to do this and maintain at a healthy weight.0
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Beyond the way this is pushing triggers personally in the OP, this is wrong a number of levels.
Leave aside the discount for just a second, where does this stop the constant intrusion into your personal life by an insurance company or an employer? Those that seem ok with this are you going to be okay if they want to have you fill them in on your sex life, your marital health, relationships with others, how you vote, if you are a fire arm owner?
Are you going to be ok if they want to one up this and get your DNA to do a genetic study in the name of $ discounts to you to say give you a discount if you carry no known genes for cancer or autoimmune disorders?
This is a really slippery slope. Insurance does not and should not have the right to pry that far into ANYONE'S life, habits, or dictate to them. Are you going to be ok with all this if it goes as far as Nazi Germany and deciding who is inferior because of genetics or health as to who gets medical care or to even live? Seriously. It's wrong.
They can keep their paws off my blood, They don't own me, and I would decline to use their insurance and pay the fine or out of pocket. I've paid a lot out of pocket because of insurance dictating to doctors what tests they will cover. Had I not paid out of pocket I would still be wondering what was wrong with me.
Neither Doctors, the government or insurance companies should have that much power to scrutinize every facet of my life or yours. Last I checked, although it seems to be rapidly deteriorating, we live in country founded on the principal of liberty and pursuit of happiness and freedom from tyranny.
the book 1984 was supposed to be a warning not a how to manual.
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Ipersonally feel that it is not your employer's place to do this. I suppose it must be legal, but oh my God. It's your body over which you should be sovereign. You don't belong to them body and soul. They hire your labor for 8 hours a day. This is more than a little intrusive on their part and it makes me angry. Sadly, you and I as workers have no control over this. So considering that you're faced with this nanny-state crap, I suppose that it's in your best interest to steer clear of all nicotine products and to monitor your BMI so that you qualify for the lower rate. I hope it's feasible for you to do this and maintain at a healthy weight.
She can choose not to use her employer's sponsored health plan.
I'm very thankful for ours.0 -
Ipersonally feel that it is not your employer's place to do this. I suppose it must be legal, but oh my God. It's your body over which you should be sovereign. You don't belong to them body and soul. They hire your labor for 8 hours a day. This is more than a little intrusive on their part and it makes me angry. Sadly, you and I as workers have no control over this. So considering that you're faced with this nanny-state crap, I suppose that it's in your best interest to steer clear of all nicotine products and to monitor your BMI so that you qualify for the lower rate. I hope it's feasible for you to do this and maintain at a healthy weight.
You do have control over this. You could opt out of employer provided healthcare and get your own. You'll find that it's MUCH more expensive. Either live with the incentives to pay less at a lower BMI or pay far more for your own.0 -
It's horrendous for you, but I used to be able to cut almost 10% of my body weight in water the weekend before a wrestling match ^_^ The good news is, you would make your cutoff. The bad news is, it would quite likely kill you, thus making the insurance sort of irrelevant.0
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Ipersonally feel that it is not your employer's place to do this. I suppose it must be legal, but oh my God. It's your body over which you should be sovereign. You don't belong to them body and soul. They hire your labor for 8 hours a day. This is more than a little intrusive on their part and it makes me angry. Sadly, you and I as workers have no control over this. So considering that you're faced with this nanny-state crap, I suppose that it's in your best interest to steer clear of all nicotine products and to monitor your BMI so that you qualify for the lower rate. I hope it's feasible for you to do this and maintain at a healthy weight.
Given the rates she is paying, the insurance is partially paid by the employer, so it's in the employer's best interest to lower the cost of this benefit as much as possible. She does not have to work to take the discount.
For the OP. If the notifications are stressing you out can you contact the organization that is sending them, explain your situation and ask to be removed from the reminder mailing list?
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Ipersonally feel that it is not your employer's place to do this. I suppose it must be legal, but oh my God. It's your body over which you should be sovereign. You don't belong to them body and soul. They hire your labor for 8 hours a day. This is more than a little intrusive on their part and it makes me angry. Sadly, you and I as workers have no control over this. So considering that you're faced with this nanny-state crap, I suppose that it's in your best interest to steer clear of all nicotine products and to monitor your BMI so that you qualify for the lower rate. I hope it's feasible for you to do this and maintain at a healthy weight.
You do have control over this. You could opt out of employer provided healthcare and get your own. You'll find that it's MUCH more expensive. Either live with the incentives to pay less at a lower BMI or pay far more for your own.
Based on one of the quotes above, I'm saving about 270 a month. I'm good with that. And, if incentives help control costs for everyone, I'm okay with that as well.0 -
They came for the Communists, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't
a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't
object - For I wasn't a Jew;
Then they came for me -
And there was no one left to object.
Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor,
1892-1984
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Danilynn1975 wrote: »They came for the Communists, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't
a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't
object - For I wasn't a Jew;
Then they came for me -
And there was no one left to object.
Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor,
1892-1984
Good lord, lol. Wait to try to derail a thread.0 -
Danilynn1975 wrote: »They came for the Communists, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't
a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I
didn't object - For I wasn't a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't
object - For I wasn't a Jew;
Then they came for me -
And there was no one left to object.
Martin Niemoller, German Protestant Pastor,
1892-1984
wooooot, first Godwinner0
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