Health insurance renewal time

[Lainey]

It's our annual health insurance renewal at the corp. I work for. Some of us here have talked before about the "biometric" numbers collected by an independent 3rd party and aggregated for the employer so they can help with our collective wellness and ostensibly keep our premiums lower. These numbers include height, weight, BMI, blood work for cholesterol, and blood pressure reading.

In the prior two years, we were encouraged to have these biometrics done because we would get extra money in our Health Savings Accounts. And if your numbers were outside the norm, you would have to participate in telephonic "health counseling" sessions until both you and the counselor felt you were on track.

But now, for the 2014/2015 insurance year, the carrot has changed to a stick. If you refuse to get these things done (and they must be done by a medical facility, they cannot be self-reported), you will have to pay an extra $500 insurance premium, along with another $1,000 in extra insurance because it is presumed you are a smoker unless your blood work shows otherwise. And, if your numbers are outside the health norm, you must show a % improvement or you will end up paying the extra premiums anyway.

At least one employee I know has decided to skip the whole thing and he and his spouse will go onto Medicare (they are just eligible this year). I think there may be others who will see what they can find through a broker now that there is no pre-existing condition barrier in the market.

I think we'll see more of these continuing requirements by employers. Anyone else seeing this yet this year?

[ApatheticNoMore]

But now, for the 2014/2015 insurance year, the carrot has changed to a stick. If you refuse to get these things done (and they must be done by a medical facility, they cannot be self-reported), you will have to pay an extra $500 insurance premium, along with another $1,000 in extra insurance because it is presumed you are a smoker unless your blood work shows otherwise. And, if your numbers are outside the health norm, you must show a % improvement or you will end up paying the extra premiums anyway.

Sheesh. I'd turn down carrots no problem, "yea yea, your moneys no good in here", and not think twice about the extra money, the same way I don't use the store discount cards. But $1500 in pentalities - that is A LOT of money. I don't use that much medical care in a year! BS like at work would seriously tempt me toward using the ACA exchange plans instead (which aren't that great either of course, their problems are well reported, but ...).

No I'm not seeing it. We dont' even have carrots. We have voluntary screenings provided for free at the office but noone is punished or rewarded (unless you count being entered in a raffle for who knows what, maybe a $20 starbucks gift card, being "rewarded").

If the younger employees decided "nah I want my privacy" and opted out and went on the ACA exchanges (and it would be cheap enough for them to do so given their age) the whole thing wouldn't work.

[iris lilies]

...If the younger employees decided "nah I want my privacy" and opted out and went on the ACA exchanges (and it would be cheap enough for them to do so given their age) the whole thing wouldn't work.

I'm not certain that is true. The ACA is suffering from a lack of young people signing up.

But OP, that news is a wow.

[awakenedsoul]

Lainey, I always buy my own insurance, so I'm out of the loop. I was self employed. What are you going to do? I haven't even been to the doctor in about 15 years. If something is wrong, I would probably go to accupuncture or get massage therapy. Since I'm turning 50 soon, I'm wondering if they are going to require that I do the whole mamogram, pap smear, etc...I don't want to do any of that. I feel like everybody is getting all of these tests now. That's not what I want. Hopefully they'll just keep cashing my checks. I've never filed a claim, just kept paying my premiums...

[Lainey]

Oh, I've already signed up to get the tests done. The kicker is I know I have borderline high cholesterol. Am I going to be forced to take statin drugs in order to get the lower percentage required??

Another employee has genetically based high cholesterol for which he now takes drugs. His weight is slim and his diet is impeccable, but the drugs are required - how is he going to show a % reduction??

[ApatheticNoMore]

The kicker is I know I have borderline high cholesterol. Am I going to be forced to take statin drugs in order to get the lower percentage required??

and maybe get diabetes or any of the other known side effects (muscle weakness, mental confusion, etc.) from statins. I think I'd pay $1500 to stay off statins personally.

High cholesterol is overdiagnosed, even obesity ok it may cause some health problems if one has high blood pressure, high blood sugar, arthritic knees etc.. But even then they can't know why the person is obese, and even if it's because they overeat they really are unlikely to get to the bottom of it. The one thing that's hard to make excuses for is smoking since what smoking does to the body is pretty extreme.

And who knows what the slippery slope is next, you test a little depressed you must go on psyche meds next. You have the DNA for breast cancer you must say farewell to them. At one point when it was trendy they might have required any postmenopausal woman to be on hormones. And does any other healthcare system in the world do this? ALL this JUST so you can have access to healthcare if you actually need it.

[rosarugosa]

Lainey: that is pretty creepy. My company does the wellness incentives. Our open enrollment isn't until November, so I don't know if we'll be moving in that direction. I would hope not, because that doesn't seem in alignment with out corporate culture. We've never had pre-employment drug screening. When we acquired a company that charged a higher premium for smokers, we eliminated that requirement rather than adopting it for the rest of employees.

[rodeosweetheart]

Hi Lainey, we are definitely moving in that direction. It has been a 3 year slide into Big Brother ville where we work. I decided to take all my records off WEB MD (Yeah, that felt real safe and secure--that is where they were stored, I STG) because what they reported there was incorrect and really scary. I told them I was opting out.

I know I will not make the metrics, so I opted to take myself out, refuse the carrot.

DH has been playing along, but he may get angry, too, we shall see.

After he fractured his pelvis recently, he looked at his records and it said he had a fractured hip, a broken leg, and a fractured tailbone.

All three.

Jeesh, no wonder he is limping.

Suspect it will be used to fire us, when it becomes apparent that we are too old and too sick not to be a burden. They already claimed at our healthcare orientation this year that our premiums doubled because we had two large claims.

Yeah, chronic asthmatic here, I think they are just looking for excuses to can me at this point.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I know I will not make the metrics, so I opted to take myself out, refuse the carrot.

if we had such metrics I'd likely slide under, but screw the carrot, if fat people are being discriminated against or whatever (and yes sometimes it is unhealthy but nontheless).

[Blackdog Lin]

Our healthcare plan has done this (the carrot thing) for years. I have opted out for us every year, believing that the stick will be coming eventually. And I don't want them to have any "baseline" data to use against us. When it does.....well, thank goodness I have healthcare options. Though we may end up eating cat food to pay for it.