Now this could motivate people to drop some pounds. Insurance companies may start charging fat people more for their health insurance.
What is the tab for flab?
Executives at 30 Fortune 500 companies organized their own organization in 2005. They put the figure at $13 billion per year. (Statistic and accompanying italics courtesy of the federal Department of Thin Air in Boulder, Colo.)
Researchers pointed out that heavy workers are less productive, file more disability claims, and call in sick more often. All of which builds the case for a “weigh and pay” approach to health coverage.
I can’t see this happening without a legal battle, but I side with the employer here. If you are costing the company money, then you need to be penalized for it somehow. No one in that company makes you eat the potato bar, but you expect them to cover the tab for your clogged arteries. Doesn’t seem right to me.
I say go for it. Maybe offer discounted gym memberships to local gyms or build a company gym for the fatties like myself. But there is no reason to involve the government in this issue. No one forces you to work there and the government should not force a private company or other employees to subsidize your jelly rolls.
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