Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovetv
Don't count on smokers etc. paying more in premiums for their own risky behavior. Behavior (of birds of a feather that stick together) is hereby being declared a "pre-existing medical condition":
"The District of Columbia’s Obamacare czars — the board that sets rules for the [new] insurance marketplace, or “exchange,” that the law creates — have decided that henceforth insurers shall be forbidden by law to charge smokers higher rates than non-smokers. Smoking, as it turns out, “is a preexisting medical condition,” according to Dr. Mohammad Akhter, the chairman of the D.C. Health Exchange Board.......
Smoking Is a |
It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
If that classification was just a declaration by some state regulator, I doubt that will stand. Especially if it begins to spread. I would expect the industry to challenge it.
The government, health care industry, and insurance companies are all lined up on reducing cost.
Proactive health management is getting a lot of attention as a way to reduce cost... as opposed to relying too much on disease management and chronic therapies.