Employers shoulder a majority of workers' health care costs, and many are seeking ways to keep those costs down. Shedding smokers and overeaters is one way.
Jump to full article: MSN Money Central, 2009-10-14
Author: Jackie Ford, MarketWatch
Intro: The cost of being a smoker
Employers pay in excess of 70% of the total cost of health insurance premiums each year. They also carry the additional burden of health-related absenteeism and reduced productivity.
With so much money at stake, it is no surprise that employers are increasingly looking beyond insurance company negotiations for ways to cut these expenses. Rightly or wrongly, many are turning now to another primary source of rising health care costs: workers themselves.
The facts are simple: Lifestyle choices, particularly those related to eating and smoking, play a major role in the development of chronic diseases, which in turn account for some 75% of all health care spending in the United States.
For example, smokers' health care costs run about 40% higher than nonsmokers' costs. Preventable illnesses caused by smoking and obesity annually account for more than $100 billion in overall health care spending -- and some experts estimate that smoke breaks and smoking-related absences cost employers an aditional $100 billion in lost productivity every year.
So it's no surprise that some employers want to exclude smokers and overeaters from their payrolls and, by association, from their health plans. Is it legal for them to do so? As is so often the case with any question of law, the answer is: It depends.
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