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Old 11-14-2014, 10:58 AM
 
6,324 posts, read 4,307,929 times
Reputation: 4333

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What I find utterly pathetic is how right-wing conservatives whine and scream about the government and its tyrannical intrusion into their lives. They pound their fists and stomp their feet about all of the freedoms they've lost - and they run to the nearest gun shop and clean out the place in this irrational fear of what might happen if a black Democrat is elected. Oh noez! And even now, Obama has been painted as the first "perfectly imperfect" person ever in the history of Mankind - because no matter what choice he makes on any given issue, it's the wrong one.

And ... while they're playing Minuteman with their tri-cornered hats, tea bags, and holding signs comparing Obamacare to the Holocaust (I thought I heard 16 million Holocaust victims turning over in their graves), Big Business is tearing their lives apart.

When businesses began rummaging around in people's personal, private finances to check credit scores; when businesses began using the credit score like the Mark of the Beast to deny basic services like electricity and heat to people with low scores ... no one really seemed to care. Privacy and freedom just didn't appear all that important.

And when businesses then began to dig around in people's personal lives by demanding Facebook passwords and unlimited access to any other social media sites, again, privacy and freedom concerns seemed to vanish. Many European countries outlawed these highly intrusive business practices - they were prohibited by law from checking credit and skulking around on people's personal internet pages. Not here though, not when you have a certain segment of the population who worship Big Business more than Jehovah himself. They didn't mind it if their boss got to read about every surgery, every moment with your kids, family problems, vacation memories, hell ... you might as well just invite your boss to live with you.

Now, businesses want unfettered access to people's bodies now. They want to take blood and monitor every pill just so they can find an excuse to slam you with higher premiums or even the entire cost. Granted there are a few lawsuits on this issue - but it won't really matter.

Because the government is the one invading our lives. Uh huh. Searches by the TSA at airports, census-takers trying to accumulate data, and other minor things - yeah, it all amounts to a massive secret conspiracy by the government to monitor what color your last turd was - because they really want to know.

Meanwhile, Big Business really IS probing every aspect of your life, monitoring you as if you were a child and they are waiting, like vultures on a powerline, for you to slip up. This obsession-like hatred of the government and Obama has blinded conservatives to the REAL threat to their freedom, but I'm just wasting my time since they'll continue to rub against the leg of Big Business and purr until they wake up one morning and realize they're no longer employees but indentured servants.
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Old 11-14-2014, 10:59 AM
 
Location: Posting from my space yacht.
8,452 posts, read 4,733,154 times
Reputation: 15354
The biggest problem I see with the US trying to emulate the Canadian healthcare system and expecting similar results is that the US has something that Canada does not, and that is an open southern border that is contiguous with that of a third world nation. Couple that with a tendency in our nation to equate efforts to keep people from that third world nation off of our social welfare programs with racism and you have yourself a recipe for disaster.
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Old 11-14-2014, 11:00 AM
 
26,972 posts, read 15,187,034 times
Reputation: 11960
Quote:
Originally Posted by luzianne View Post
My employer (a health care facility) does this. If my spouse and I get a wellness exam each year, my employer pays an extra $200 per paycheck of our health insurance premiums. It's about promoting wellness. They don't penalize you based on the results of your exam.

When I worked for them in the past, they were always promoting wellness in other ways - like doing oxygen saturations, blood pressure checks, smoking cessation classes, walking clubs, etc. - all encouraging wellness and free to the employee.





Wellness in itself is fine just as the EEOC Attorney said but.....

My employer pays a set percentage and if you don't do it, they pay less.
So we are being penalized.
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Old 11-14-2014, 11:00 AM
 
10,198 posts, read 6,274,942 times
Reputation: 11270
Quote:
Originally Posted by veuvegirl View Post
First let's start off with some facts. Wellness is instituted for many reasons. Doctors have always been reactive instead of proactive. This only increases medical costs risks for the patient when it could be prevented!

What employers are starting to do is have health screenings to be preventative.. At no time does anyone within your company see or know your results.

The wellness check is all things you should be doing on your own anyway! Women should be getting a pap smear, mammogram, annual check up etc. Men should be getting a prostate exam, annual check up etc. This is preventative . So many people just don't go to the doctor until something is wrong and it is too late.

The follow up is to help you get through any issues you have to assist you getting healthy and preventing disease. This helps both the employee get health and reduces costs.

One example that hits close to home is my sister. She works where it is mandatory to have a bio-metric screening every year. Thank God, because they discovered she had leukemia. Had she not had this test, she probably would have gone a very long time without being diagnosed, and possibly dead. It was caught very early and she has been in remission for well over five years. This of course is an extreme case.

Now think if you have high cholesterol, at risk for diabetes, you smoke etc. And your employer says "hey, here are some programs that will help you quit smoking, reduce your diabetes risk.." Why wouldn't you want those FREE programs?? Not only will they make you healthier, but they save you as a person money. Even with health insurance the medications are expensive!! And lead to further diseases and conditions.

Now for the article. You are not required by law to take your employers health insurance. If you don't like it, don't participate. Go elsewhere or pay the premium. The company did nothing wrong. The employee refused to take the test. Fine. Lose your benefit.
It is also considered by "experts" to be healthy for a woman to have her first child before age 30. Wellness program where I used to work, repeat USED TO, asked on their questionnaire, "If you are female and are under 30 years old, are you planning on having your first child soon?" THINK about that one. They were trying to tell people WHEN to have children based on some stupid HEALTH criteria. One 28 year old female coworker wrote on her form, "Does the Wellness Program have a DATING SERVICE so I can find a husband quickly to have my first child before I turn 30?" Female employees were FURIOUS over this.

Overweight? Oh, besides, enrolling in an an approved gym (kickback?), your Health Coach would prepare your menu for the week and GO Grocery Shopping with you. I suppose they didn't trust that people with college degrees knew how to grocery shop? Or maybe they wanted to make sure nobody CHEATED? lol Was this dietic menu for everyone in the employee's family also? Of course, if one person was overweight, then the entire family must be also?

People got Compliance letters from their Health Coaches. "You are not in compliance with your program, bla, bla, bla". I not only told them No to their Wellness and Insurance, I quit working there. For MONTHS on end, I kept getting letters saying that I had not applied for COBRA. Hell, they wouldn't even leave you alone after you QUIT.
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Old 11-14-2014, 11:01 AM
 
26,972 posts, read 15,187,034 times
Reputation: 11960
[quote=veuvegirl;37272775]First let's start off with some facts. Wellness is instituted for many reasons. Doctors have always been reactive instead of proactive. This only increases medical costs risks for the patient when it could be prevented!

What employers are starting to do is have health screenings to be preventative.. At no time does anyone within your company see or know your results.

The wellness check is all things you should be doing on your own anyway! Women should be getting a pap smear, mammogram, annual check up etc. Men should be getting a prostate exam, annual check up etc. This is preventative . So many people just don't go to the doctor until something is wrong and it is too late.

The follow up is to help you get through any issues you have to assist you getting healthy and preventing disease. This helps both the employee get health and reduces costs.

One example that hits close to home is my sister. She works where it is mandatory to have a bio-metric screening every year. Thank God, because they discovered she had leukemia. Had she not had this test, she probably would have gone a very long time without being diagnosed, and possibly dead. It was caught very early and she has been in remission for well over five years. This of course is an extreme case.

Now think if you have high cholesterol, at risk for diabetes, you smoke etc. And your employer says "hey, here are some programs that will help you quit smoking, reduce your diabetes risk.." Why wouldn't you want those FREE programs?? Not only will they make you healthier, but they save you as a person money. Even with health insurance the medications are expensive!! And lead to further diseases and conditions.

Now for the article. You are not required by law to take your employers health insurance. If you don't like it, don't participate. Go elsewhere or pay the premium. The company did nothing wrong. The employee refused to take the test. Fine. Lose your benefit.[/quote]





That is the crux of this thread and the EEOC suits.

We are not contesting good intent nor results here.
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Old 11-14-2014, 11:12 AM
 
Location: NYC
16,061 posts, read 26,692,634 times
Reputation: 24848
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesjuke View Post
Wellness in itself is fine just as the EEOC Attorney said but.....

My employer pays a set percentage and if you don't do it, they pay less.
So we are being penalized.
You are being penalized to encourage you to participate and stay healthy. Bummer. Your employer wants you to be healthy
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Old 11-14-2014, 11:16 AM
 
Location: NYC
16,061 posts, read 26,692,634 times
Reputation: 24848
[quote=bluesjuke;37273046]
Quote:
Originally Posted by veuvegirl View Post

Now for the article. You are not required by law to take your employers health insurance. If you don't like it, don't participate. Go elsewhere or pay the premium. The company did nothing wrong. The employee refused to take the test. Fine. Lose your benefit.[/quote]





That is the crux of this thread and the EEOC suits.

We are not contesting good intent nor results here.
No one is being discriminated against. So what are they suing for? Making someone take a health screening? It's ridiculous.

The information never goes back to the employer, so the employer will never know the results of your test.

The OP mentioned people lost jobs for not submitting (please cite source) The OP also put up graphic pictures what you 'must' be submitted to. That's what I was responding to.
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Old 11-14-2014, 12:05 PM
 
13,586 posts, read 13,077,256 times
Reputation: 17786
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shirina View Post
What I find utterly pathetic is how right-wing conservatives whine and scream about the government and its tyrannical intrusion into their lives. They pound their fists and stomp their feet about all of the freedoms they've lost - and they run to the nearest gun shop and clean out the place in this irrational fear of what might happen if a black Democrat is elected. Oh noez! And even now, Obama has been painted as the first "perfectly imperfect" person ever in the history of Mankind - because no matter what choice he makes on any given issue, it's the wrong one.

And ... while they're playing Minuteman with their tri-cornered hats, tea bags, and holding signs comparing Obamacare to the Holocaust (I thought I heard 16 million Holocaust victims turning over in their graves), Big Business is tearing their lives apart.

When businesses began rummaging around in people's personal, private finances to check credit scores; when businesses began using the credit score like the Mark of the Beast to deny basic services like electricity and heat to people with low scores ... no one really seemed to care. Privacy and freedom just didn't appear all that important.

And when businesses then began to dig around in people's personal lives by demanding Facebook passwords and unlimited access to any other social media sites, again, privacy and freedom concerns seemed to vanish. Many European countries outlawed these highly intrusive business practices - they were prohibited by law from checking credit and skulking around on people's personal internet pages. Not here though, not when you have a certain segment of the population who worship Big Business more than Jehovah himself. They didn't mind it if their boss got to read about every surgery, every moment with your kids, family problems, vacation memories, hell ... you might as well just invite your boss to live with you.

Now, businesses want unfettered access to people's bodies now. They want to take blood and monitor every pill just so they can find an excuse to slam you with higher premiums or even the entire cost. Granted there are a few lawsuits on this issue - but it won't really matter.

Because the government is the one invading our lives. Uh huh. Searches by the TSA at airports, census-takers trying to accumulate data, and other minor things - yeah, it all amounts to a massive secret conspiracy by the government to monitor what color your last turd was - because they really want to know.

Meanwhile, Big Business really IS probing every aspect of your life, monitoring you as if you were a child and they are waiting, like vultures on a powerline, for you to slip up. This obsession-like hatred of the government and Obama has blinded conservatives to the REAL threat to their freedom, but I'm just wasting my time since they'll continue to rub against the leg of Big Business and purr until they wake up one morning and realize they're no longer employees but indentured servants.
This needs to be read and absorbed by every poster here. Well said!
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Old 11-14-2014, 12:08 PM
 
13,586 posts, read 13,077,256 times
Reputation: 17786
Quote:
Originally Posted by veuvegirl View Post
You are being penalized to encourage you to participate and stay healthy. Bummer. Your employer wants you to be healthy
Your employer wants you to stay cheap. It's a business decision, period. As long as we resist Medicare for everyone, for-profit companies will continue with their current business plans.
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Old 11-14-2014, 12:11 PM
 
18,532 posts, read 15,510,571 times
Reputation: 16214
Quote:
Originally Posted by scottkuzminski View Post
Here is the deal....

Many workplaces have what is called a "wellness annual/biannual check".......if you want to receive your insurance that is contractually given to you, you must submit and pass these checks, and, if not passed, at worst, you actually lose said insurance or get fired, or,at best, your out-of-pocket costs will go far higher.....if you are lucky enough to keep your policy at all...

You MUST submit to an examination to maintain qualification for your insurance....this is far more than a urine test.......

As follows...

Blood test to look for ALL your body markers that could indicate something aforesaid insurance would possibly have to pay for(including pre-existing conditions, as well as general indications of illness or poor health)....



The classic finger up the butt(anal probe with finger)



For females, if necessary, vaginal probes, especially after 40




And that's not all.....you MUST follow up with the prescribed "treatment".......

You don't have to walk around with a fitbit like an ankle bracelet necessarily, but you will be monitored to make sure you take your meds and do what you are told, and your body will be probed in later tests to vouchsafe you are "doing the right thing"....

If not, again, at the very least, your out-of-pocket will skyrocket, and at worst, you can be fired on some obviously "other" pretext, though it actually is from fear of paying out money for Type 2 Diabetes or other costly problems.....

Some people recently have actually lost their jobs just for not submitting to "wellness tests"

Here is a bit about lawsuits per these "Wellness Tests" breaching constitutional freedoms to privacy...

http://www.businessinsurance.com/art...WS07/141009981


I get the points that it is a good thing to be healthy, but, the point is, companies are probing and having access to all your bodies information(infinitely more than urine), and can use that against you, not to mention you have zero control over what they do or who they share this with....
I was just discussing (with a friend last night) the consequences of the upcoming Supreme Court hearing about Obamacare that pertains to those living in states without an exchange. I remarked that if the Supreme Court rules against subsidies for those in such states, it could dismantle much of the system so affordable care is not available in states without an exchange.

This means one would need to reject all job offers in states without an exchange, unless good employer-based health care coverage is available. Now I'm beginning to suspect that the latter is very difficult to find!
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