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Can My Employer Tie Health Insurance Premiums to my BMI, Blood Pressure, etc?

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Air

Junior Member
I work for a local Government in Florida that is Self Insured. They are currently trying to implement a plan that would tie Health Insurance premiums to our BMI, Blood Pressure, and Diabetes risk (I'm not sure what other health areas might be factored in). They are also trying to make it mandatory for employees to take an annual health screening with blood test, conducted by a 3rd party.

Is this legal?
 


sandyclaus

Senior Member
I work for a local Government in Florida that is Self Insured. They are currently trying to implement a plan that would tie Health Insurance premiums to our BMI, Blood Pressure, and Diabetes risk (I'm not sure what other health areas might be factored in). They are also trying to make it mandatory for employees to take an annual health screening with blood test, conducted by a 3rd party.

Is this legal?
I'm pretty sure it is. Just as private insurance premiums are based upon an insured's health, basing employer-sponsored health insurance premiums upon an employee's physical health makes a lot of sense. Currently, fifty-four percent of employers with health plans now require some type of screening to determine how much an employee pays.

The benefit is clear - those employees who take better care of their health will be rewarded with lower insurance premiums, due to the fact that they will require fewer doctor visits, and incur fewer health care costs.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
Well what about those employees who feel their personal health information is none of their employer's damn business?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Well what about those employees who feel their personal health information is none of their employer's damn business?
then they can do without insurance!!


Don't get me wrong on this. I believe this is the beginning of a very bad situation. If you think about it, this was one of the concerns with the advent in depth testing to determine a possible propensity to be afflicted with any given malady. Pretty soon we will realize that people with blonde hair and blue eyes live longer or people that are X% shorter than the general populace are X% more likely to be subject to certain illness or any other possible situation and having insurance billed out like a grocery list:

red hair- more susceptible to sun exposure damage- 3% upcharge

less than 85% of height of general populace- prone to [whatever]- 2% upcharge

IQ less than 85- prone to the "redneck disease, common symptoms include saying with regularity: "Hey y'all, watch this"- 100% upcharge
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
Group health insurance can't be rated based on individual risk.

Most of these programs are done to encourage employees to obtain health screenings. So they give a discount not based on what the results of the screening is, but only because the employee has gotten the screening done. My employer puts $200 into an HSA for the employee after they get a screening does. They don't care what your cholesterol or blood sugar level is, they only care that YOU know what they are, so hopefully you will do something about it if they are high.
 

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