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Wellness Programs - 2/16/2008 5:35:09 PM

TheBanshee

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Joined: 7/19/2007
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Does anyone else get a little queasy about wellness programs that are offered in many companies now? Often these are very strongly insisted upon to employees - I'm not sure they are exactly mandatory but are seriously tied in with your eligibility and cost of your health insurance. Depending on the program you have to take a questionaire and possibly a physical and blood and/or urine testing.
    If you smoke, you would qualify for a smoking cessation program (maybe mandatory) and upon success you might be given a discount on your policy (which probably had an added penalty if you smoked). Okay, no lectures here on the evils of smoking - we all know its not good for you and I know you don't want it around you yadda yadda yadda - this post isn't about smokers rights so please stick with me here.   Bottom line is smoking is still a legal activity where its still legal to light up. Some people have been terminated in companies that ordered employees to quit smoking on or off work time.
   If you are overweight, the program will direct you to a weight loss program and same, on successful completion, you may get some change off your health premium.
    The argument is people who live an unhealthy lifestyle increase the overall cost of health insurance to everyone who pays for their insurance - so some people are on the other side of the fence and believe these programs are great cause they don't want to pay for someone who's obese and smokes and doesn't care how he lives.
   My fear is about our personal freedom and personal privacy - how much power do we give our employers here and this is a real threat with health insurance hanging in the balance. Where will it end? Better not have that wine with dinner anymore? If I have had a high risk pregnancy will they try to penalize me if I chose not to terminate? If my kids are in school sports will I get a penalty for activity prone to injury?   Maybe these are extreme but where will it end? Big brother is here.

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RE: Wellness Programs - 2/16/2008 5:57:18 PM

Arpig

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I find the whole idea abhorant...it is none of one's employers' business what one does once one's 8 hours (or 12 hours or whatever) are up, they don't pay me for the other 16 hours of the day so they don't get to even ask what I do during those 16 hours...at least that's the way I think it should be.

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RE: Wellness Programs - 2/16/2008 6:29:14 PM

LadyEllen

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From: Stourport-England
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This is the price one must pay if one insists on employers providing healthcare packages, rather than turning to a universal healthcare system.

If the employer is paying for your healthcare, then he has a vested interest in making sure you dont drink, dont smoke and dont consume other substances either, and that you dont engage in any other activity which might result in a claim on the healthcare policy that will cost the employer more in future. And if you dont like that intrusion - its a free country, you can find a job without such healthcare provisions.

One of the arguments proposed against universal health care is that the government should not have access to your information and will use that information which it gains to force you to behave and be healthy. Yet no one thinks its a problem for private companies to have that information and force the same restrictions and obligations on you.

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RE: Wellness Programs - 2/16/2008 8:12:50 PM

Greylynn

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We were not told in writing, just verbally that if we did not participate in the wellness program our premiums would go up 15% and the smokers another 5% on top of it. We all took it just because we couldn't afford the increase.

As for your employer not knowing who has what results. BULLSHIT. We had to give our name, dob and ss# and department to schedule the apt and the results were mailed to us. If they were confidential we would have been given an ID # the day of the draw and a number to call in to find out what our results were.

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