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Originally Posted by bobbym
It was a free country
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In the overall sense, yes. But in this particular case, employers have the freedom, thank God, to hire whom they see fit to hire and pay insurance premiums on which are skyrocketing because of riskier people (who generate more medical bills to pay) being added into the insurance pool.
Faced with skyrocketing increases in health insurance premiums, employers are wisely seeking ways to manage and limit those costs. One way to do so is to focus on the lifestyle choices of their employees and how those choices might influence premium costs. Lately, one lifestyle choice receiving particular attention is smoking and the use of other tobacco products.
Numerous studies have focused on smoking and its deleterious effects, not just on health but also on employee productivity.
A study of 20,000 employees showed that smokers had more hospital visits per 1,000 employees (124 vs. 76), had a longer average length of stay (6.5 days vs. 5) and made six more visits to health care facilities per year than nonsmokers.
Another study recently found that smokers miss an average of about 6.16 days of work per year, compared to 3.86 days missed by nonsmokers, and that smokers taking four 10-minute smoke breaks per day actually work one month less per year than nonsmoking employees.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each employee who smokes costs a company an additional $3,391 per year—including $1,760 in lost productivity and $1,623 in excess medical expenses. So focusing on employees who smoke seems to be an excellent idea for employers trying to manage the cost of providing health care.
- See more at:
Can and Should You Link Health Insurance Rates and Smoking?