I keep thinking that the lives of cigarette smokers couldn't get much worse but I always seem to be wrong The spots where you can grab a smoke at work keep getting smaller and at a greater distance from one's desk. It's also getting tougher for smokers to even secure a job (see: Health Systems Use Their Regional Dominance to Muscle Insurance Companies; Cleveland Clinic no-smoking policy has locals talking). Employers are now adding surcharges to smokers' health insurance coverage to offset their higher rate of health problems and expenditures (see: Companies Get Tougher with Employees Who Smoke). Such charges, of course, are in addition to the ever-increasing cost of cigarettes including taxes. States are trying to balance their budgets, in part, on the basis of higher sin taxes (see: Federal Tax on Soda Pop Proposed: Can This Be Justified?; State Taxes on Soda Pop Gain Momentum; Does the End Justify the Means?). Below is an excerpt from an article about these higher employer health insurance surcharges:
Many companies use quiet incentives to encourage desired employee behavior, such as losing weight. Not Macy’s ... Beginning on July 1, workers at the department store chain who admit to using tobacco will be surcharged $35 a month, or $420 a year, for health coverage. The extra cost will be deferred only if smokers enroll in a free quit-smoking class. Their progress will then be reviewed after six months. Instead of using carrots to encourage smokers to kick the habit, businesses increasingly are wielding sticks. At PepsiCo..., smokers pay an annual $600 insurance surcharge, while publisher Gannett...charges $60 a month. Some go even further: Union Pacific...and Scotts Miracle-Gro ...refuse to hire smokers. Between medical spending and productivity losses, smoking costs the U.S. more than $193 billion a year, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco use is responsible for one in five U.S. deaths. For employers, a smoker is 18 percent more expensive than a nonsmoker, says ...a consultant at Aon Hewitt....That cost gap likely will widen beginning in 2018 when, under a provision of health reform legislation passed last year, companies with health plans that spend way more than average will have to pay an additional federal tax. That may push some to reduce employee coverage. “Employers have two choices: cut benefits or cut the trend” of rising medical costs to avoid the [federal] levy, [she said] “It has made all of them a lot bossier when it comes to employee lifestyle choices.”
All of this news is making me grimace. It's social engineering writ large and bitter medicine for smokers but justifiable from both a insurance cost basis and public health perspective. I suspect that the overall health status of smokers may now suffer from both their smoking habit and the fact that they may not be able to afford both nutritious food and cigarettes. Smokers are becoming the ultimate pariahs with no one to stand up for them. I do believe, however, that the end justifies the means in this case.
The notice includes the abstract rule, which states that this proposed rule would deem to be subject to the Control Act and include provisions to address public health concerns. Kent Online come with filters but at that time the filtered cigarettes were considered as less harmful. At present Kent cigarettes have unique style and are unlike several others.
Posted by: Lucky | October 01, 2012 at 06:58 AM
Great job you people are doing with this website.
Posted by: kent online | July 19, 2012 at 02:24 AM