May Soon Be Influenced By Healthy Lifestyle Decisions
Individual health insurance costs may soon be based on your diet, exercise habits, and whether or not you smoke. In the struggle to make healthcare and health coverage more affordable, legislators and health insurance agencies alike may soon be turning to personal decision making as a means of judging how much you should pay.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan is the most controversial, wherein he suggests that those who make good diet, exercise, and lifestyle decisions should pay less for individual health insurance than those who do not.
And health insurance agencies themselves have been supportive of higher taxes on cigarettes, junk foods, and other products linked to healthcare costs.
How are these factors involved in healthcare costs? Mainly in that Americans' poor lifestyle habits are costing us all, even those who choose not to participate in such behaviors.
For example, according to health economists at the University of California, the total cost of caring for people with health problems caused by smoking is around $72.2 billion dollars a year.
And not to be outdone, a new study by researchers at RTI International and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that U.S. obesity-attributable medical expenditures is about $75 billion.
So, $147.2 billion dollars is the cost of having bad habits, and as that cost is shifted to small businesses and consumers, it becomes one of the major reasons why healthcare costs are through the roof and individual health insurance, among all other kinds of insurance, is too expensive for almost 50 million Americans.
Those who argue against these plans feel that it isn't the government's job to monitor personal activities, that it will create discrimination against people who are overweight or who smoke, and that the addictive nature of cigarettes and, as some say, food, doesn't make a healthy lifestyle a viable choice for everyone.
Facts on:
Individual Health Insurance
Did you know...
The total cost of caring for people with health problems caused by smoking is around $72.2 billion dollars a year?
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Regardless of how it comes about, the idea of personal responsibility in terms of
health insurance is a new one. Perhaps it will inspire people to quite smoking and get more exercise, perhaps it won't and those who fear the demonization of the unhealthy will be proven correct.
But until then we need to find some solution to the rising costs of healthcare and insurance, so that every American can rest assured that they and their loved ones will be protected in the event of a medical emergency.
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