Part 2 was just too long so I had to split it up but I am jumping right into it:
I am sure a lot of you have heard about the “fat tax” back in 2008 that Alabama wanted to place on their state employees. Basically if you are overweight, you have to pay more for insurance. A lot of people were very upset about this but there is something that some insurance companies are doing based on smoking. Basically, if you smoke, you have to join a smoking cessation program or pay more for insurance. Now, they make it sound like they care for your health but the reality is it costs A LOT of money to take care of a patient with lung cancer or COPD. Now what’s funny is that legally you can’t say that smoking causes cancer. There is a correlation between the two but you can’t say smoking is the cause of COPD and cancer. But an insurance company can charge you more for the correlation between the two. That’s a double standard to me. You tell me that I can’t say smoking causes COPD or cancer, but you can charge me more money to insure me if I smoke because of the possible costs? There is something not quite right with that.
And it’s not just smoking and obesity. I know firsthand that some employers and insurance companies are charging more money if you don’t get your wellness exam. So, basically Obama makes physicals free so companies say “OK, since it’s free, you have to get it done or we will charge you more money”. Now, as a provider, I believe that all people should get physicals, but there is part of me that still thinks it should be a choice. I know it is still “implied” as a choice because you can always choose to say no but is it really a choice. That’s like my mother giving me the option as a child to clean up my room or get my @** whooped. I mean, it’s a choice but it’s not a good one. Of course I will clean up my room because you crazy enough to beat me. (and yes, I called my mother crazy and if you meet her, she will seem like the nicest, sweetest woman you ever met but aren’t most crazy people like that?)
Here is the one that did it for me: My insurance company will charge me more money if I put my wife on my insurance plan and she is employed! Basically either she gets insurance through her job or I pay an “employed spouse tax” on my insurance. Now, is it a choice? Yes. Is it a fair one? No. My wife has never come to me and asked to be put on my insurance and in the past, she could. She can’t any more. I mean, she can ask but if she waiting to be put on my insurance, she better not get hurt next year because she is going to have some issues. I’m just saying…………
What’s my bottom line? The bill will help and hurt a lot of people. The question is will it help more people than it hurts? That still remains to be seen but I do know one group that will not be hurt and that is the insurance companies. They have been making money and getting bonuses for years and reform will not change that. They are just finding new ways for the consumer to pay for it so it depends on which side you are on as to whether or not this is good for you. Overall, I only go to my physician once a year so the only thing this bill is doing is increasing my rates BUT I also have more patients coming in now because they have insurance so for me, it’s both. What is it for you?
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