Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How would a health insurance company "police" people for healthy lifestyles?
Corporations with wellness programs do, as do test results taken at physicals. weight dropping, cholesterol and triglycerides improving.... there ya go!
Many employers offer similar plans. My job gives employees $1650 in an HSA which covers almost an entire year's worth of deductibles for a family (deductable for family is $2000 - we have a very good plan. HSA money is also allowed to be used for consecutive years - not the same as an FSA BTW; so we can have a large amount in the HSA over a course of years to pay for any unexpected occurrences).
Well, I couldn't rep you again, so I'll just add that the HSA's are one of the best deals out there. If your balance gets up there make sure you move some of it into investments (most HSA's offer this ability).
My husband and I have almost perfect driving records. And because of that, our auto insurance is lower than typical.
We are health freaks. We workout at the gym almost everyday of the week. We are very mindful of what we eat. We are both very active adults. Our blood tests always come back exactly what a healthy adult should be. His body fat percentage is 10-12% while mine is 13-14%.
So, why do we pay the same premiums for our health insurance as people who are morbidly obese?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not putting down fat people at all. I believe in freedom of choice. If people want to be fat, then more power to them.
But how come insurance companies never put one's healthy lifestyle (or the lack thereof) into account?
Because your yearly trip with no issues and no ER trips for hang nails Funds the total pot that supplies services to people who can’t pay or don’t pay but show up on a regular basis (they lose money on these folks). The system collapses when you don’t pay a lot.
Well, I don't have an answer to everything. The problems you presented certainly have merits. Just like how I can get cancer tomorrow.
But it still is pretty undeniable that obesity greatly increases one's chances to get cancer, heart disease, etc. I'm not understanding the emphasis on the possibility that we all always have at least some chances to get ill no matter what we do.
Think ok of it this way. Suppose I want to cross a busy street. So, I close my eyes and just jay walk across the street while cars are zooming past me. A random person grabs my arm back and yell out "you wanna die? What's wrong with you?"
How would that person react if my answer is "we all gotta die some time". Does that make sense to you? Does the chance of a piece of the international space station falling right on me tomorrow mean I can stop worrying about all the risks in life? Should I start driving down the interstate on the wrong side of the barrier wall because an asteroid might hit earth a couple days from now? Let's take it a step further. I can go out and rob a bank and then make the argument that I broke the law, the guy going 10 over the speed limit broke the law and he only got a ticket for it. So, I shouldn't go to jail I should only get a ticket for robbing a bank.
I'm not understanding this emphasis on dilute the significance of healthy lifestyle choices and their impacts on lowering the risks of diseases like Type 2 and heart disease. Are you saying my chances of getting Type 2 is exactly the same as a morbidly obese person even though I can do 10 reps of pullups?
I think the argument you are getting back is the fact that both diabetes and heart disease also can be inherited and that you living a so-called "healthy" lifestyle is no guarantee that you won't get it. On living a "healthy" lifestyle I'd also wonder as well if you consume any alcoholic beverages regularly. Alcohol actually damages the heart and is not good for you like the media portrays. I personally have family members who drank 1-2 glasses a wine a day, thinking it was healthy, and it caused them to have a heart condition. Certain OTC drugs can also exasperate a heart condition - NSAIDS, especially ibruprofen (Advil/Motrin, etc) can cause heart damage in some people and lead to serious heart disease if used often.
FWIW I'm African American. My maternal grandfather is 87 and has diabetes. No one in my dad's side of the family has diabetes (which is always shocking to his doctors that he is in his 60s and actually is obese yet he doesn't have diabetes). As an African American, I already am at a higher risk of diabetes, no matter my lifestyle choices just because of my race. My 87 year old grandfather is not obese and was diagnosed as diabetic in his 50s. I've accompanied him to the doctor before and his physician always says he is the "healthiest diabetic" he treats. He is a typical weight. He is very active (still plays golf twice a week, fishes as well at least 1-2 times a week, does all his yard work, takes walks everyday, eats very healthy meals, etc.). His grandmother had "the sugar" as she called it too lol. She was not obese either.
Black people have a predisposition to diabetes as do people of Asian descent, who are typically not obese, and especially not as much as black people are.
I think and probably others do as well who know about this stuff, that you are kidding yourself into thinking you are healthier than someone else and especially a heavier person. You've admitted you have some rare genetic condition. That in and of itself makes you a risk to insurers probably at a greater level than a fat diabetic.
I'll note that diabetes when controlled like my grandfather is not all that expensive to treat. Heart drugs and common diabetes meds are not expensive and cancer "risks" exist for everything, not just weight.
I'll also note as an African American I am predisposed to heart disease due to the epidemic of high blood pressure for black people in this country.
I already have high blood pressure based on the "new" measure of anything over 130/80 now being considered HBP. Prior to the change to the new measure, I didn't have it. I'm 40 and am very active and I eat well. Having HBP means I have an increased risk of heart disease. I have many people in my family who have died from heart issues and practically all of them are related to HBP. My male family members especially are the most susceptible, mostly because they don't go to the doctor as often. My older brother is a very active, in shape person in particular. He is 41 and was diagnosed with HBP when he was 30 years old.
Many studies suggest that both lifestyle choices for black Americans along with the stress of being black in America is a factor in the HBP statistics of African Americans. Highly stressed people in general often have HBP and that can cause heart disease if untreated or hard to treat/get to a good level.
I've heard this before where eating healthy = expensive. This is absolutely not true.
Potato is cheap. Oatmeal (NOT instant) is cheap. Rice is cheap. Vegetables like lettuce are cheap.
My lunch yesterday was a bowl of old fashioned oats + slices of bananas. I guarantee you, that was a lot cheaper than a double cheeseburger meal at mcdonalds.
That's not what I was referring to, but my fault for not communicating well. I meant the ability to go to doctors and dentists, not just when sick, but as preventative medicine.
Even if a person is a working professional, with health insurance, one cannot take off work as much as needed to attend to eyes, teeth, female/male wellness, and regular check ups, not to mention alternative medicine and mental care. If one is not even a working professional with health care, going to any doctor ever is virtually impossible.
Therefore, only the rich get to really be healthy- have healthcare, and the time off, per either own their own source of constant income, or have family money, and either way, have time to leave "work" for such nuisances as health.
(As far as the above "healthy" diet being ssssooo heavy on carbs, that is for another forum- LOL!)
Last edited by MarshaBrady1968; 06-27-2019 at 10:30 AM..
FWIW one of my main "liberal" leans is that I do support a wide ranging public option for health insurance. I don't support abolishing the private sector insurance industry (mostly because a lot of people would be out of work) but I do support giving people the option of joining Medicaid or Medicare in order to cover everyone. This would actually allow employers to be outside the burden of providing insurance to their employees. You think you shouldn't pay as much as your 300lb co-worker but I'm certain that your employer pays 2-3 times for your insurance versus what you are paying yourself. One of the largest expenses for companies/institutions is health insurance premiums for their employees. Employees are typically ignorant about how much the company is paying for you. It is a LOT of money on an annual basis usually 7-9 figures or more depending on the number of covered persons.
And their competitors in countries that have national health care are freed from that burden.
And their competitors in countries that have national health care are freed from that burden.
This is true.
When I was in my 20s I worked as a customer service manager in a call center for a telecom company. They outsourced our jobs to Canada and one of the reason was because they didn't have to pay for healthcare benefits there so would save money. They also paid them less per hour than we were getting paid at the time, but said the healthcare costs would disappear in Canada so it was lucrative for them to move.
I think most conservatives don't understand how health insurance being forced to be provided by commercial organizations actually is a financial burden to them. I'd rather get an extra $500 a month in my check and use Medicaid or Medicare versus pay for private group health insurance.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
