Reader Ron Haywood of Eaton Rapids called in moral question: Do health insurance companies have the right to dictate a subscriber’s weight?
Haywood told me that Blue Cross Blue Shield employees were given the word: Lose weight, or lose your health coverage.
Well, that’s not exactly the case. Here’s how BCBS spokeswoman Helen Stojic, responding to my inquiry, framed it:
“All of our employees have multiple health plans to choose from.
“Smoking can be a factor in the amount of cost-sharing by an employee. Employees who strive for a wellness goal of being or becoming a non-smoker can have less cost-sharing associated with their health coverage.
“As for weight, some of our plans have components that have less cost sharing if an employee commits to a weight loss program recommended by the doctor.
“We also have plans that employees can choose that don’t have that wellness component.”
That sounds reasonable enough, but it doesn’t require a wild imagination to see how the “cost sharing” share for certain body types could become bigger and bigger.
