Time for Insurance Discounts for Obese Smokers?
Everyone is talking about the recent Dutch study showing that overweight people and smokers are cheaper to treat in the long run than are healthy people.
The reason?
Healthy people live longer. Longer to rack up more medical bills. Obese people and smokers die earlier.
Responding to the survey, Atlantic Monthly blogger Megan McArdle wrote:
Dying young, even of an expensive disease, turns out to be cheaper than living a long, healthy life. If you really want to save money, you should probably start taxing fitness club memberships.Flippancy aside, McArdle is pointing out the wrong-headedness of trying to reduce health care costs by discouraging smoking and obesity.
But is it really wrong-headed? Should health insurers start offering discounts to people who smoke a pack a day and dine only at Hardee’s?
It’s depends, as McArdle points out, on who’s paying for the health care.
“Dying young is expensive for [health insurers],” McArdle writes. “People who live a long time die on Medicare's dime.”
So, health insurers, take note: It’s still in your best interest to encourage people to quit smoking and lose a few pounds.
Via The Consumerist
