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OPINIONS
Editorial: Voluntary health plan discount for healthy habits worth talking about
Americans had been hearing about the dangers of smoking for decades, but when smoking surcharges began to pop up on their health insurance bills a few years ago, it still upset a lot of people.
Why should someone have to pay more for insurance, just because they smoke? Well, most of us probably know the answer to that question, but it is still a bit of shock when you put a price tag on the link between poor lifestyle choices and health care costs.
Now we are seeing a similar debate about health insurance charges for overweight people.
West Virginia's Public Employees Insurance Agency -- which provides benefits to more than 200,000 state workers, retirees and family members -- is considering a discount for customers who demonstrate better health factors, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose levels and waist measurements.
As proposed, it would be a voluntary action on the part of the individual to apply, but critics quickly labeled the idea a "fat tax" because ultimately, overweight people would pay more.
North Carolina and Alabama are two states that already have similar plans in the works, but they involve more testing and identifying risk groups. There is interest in the concept in the private sector as well, although the Kaiser Family Foundation in its annual report on health insurance found only a small percentage of private employers give discounts for healthier lifestyles.
Many health insurance programs, including PEIA, already have programs to encourage healthier habits. But critics of the discount idea argue that weight problems can stem from many things besides personal choice, and it is wrong to put people in two different categories.
But the trend lines are going to keep the question on the table. Our nation is becoming more and more overweight, and the links between those weight problems and other health problems are becoming more and more apparent.
Gov. Joe Manchin last week distanced himself from the proposal, but PEIA officials plan to put the discount out for public comment at a series of hearings on the 2011 plan. Those include a Huntington hearing Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Marshall University Medical School, Harless Auditorium.
If the discount program is voluntary, and employees must "step forward" to take advantage of it, then it makes sense to consider it. But the state lining up all its employees and deciding who is in a "high risk" category and who is not is invasive and fraught with problems.
Rising health care costs are a problem for everyone, and encouraging healthier lifestyles benefits the individual as well as society. But the public and private sector should offer a carrot, rather than a stick, on this one.
