Comment by doix

Comment by doix 3 days ago

> we'll immediately be at the point where smokers, alcoholics, obese people etc. should pay more, after all, their way of life statistically causes higher costs.

Wait, do they not? I genuinely assumed they did. I remember when I got private insurance through my work I had to fill in some questionnaire. It was "free", but it was a taxable benefit so you knew how much you were costing the company and me and my friends had different rates.

I wonder what the actual statistics are when it comes to costs with active people that are more likely to be injured vs obese people that are less likely to be injured but more likely to suffer obesity related illnesses.

philwelch 3 days ago

Health insurance premiums used to be different based on whether or not you smoked; maybe they still are. It would still be nice if you could lower your health insurance premiums by losing weight or buying a policy that didn’t cover mountain bike injuries or whatnot.

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ghaff 3 days ago

At a former company, there was some trivial discount for an annual health care screening which I stopped doing because it was trivial and something that wasn't between me and my doctor. I would absolutely not sign onto a screening that invasively wanted to know about specific athletic or other activities of that sort. (Which would probably also give the insurance company untold levers to deny your claim.) "Oh, you said you don't rock climb, well that 'hike' looks like a rock climb to us."

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thaumasiotes 3 days ago

>> we'll immediately be at the point where smokers [...] should pay more, after all, their way of life statistically causes higher costs.

> Wait, do they not?

Why should they? It's not obvious at all that smoking causes higher costs; a smoker who gets lung cancer is a smoker who never needs the medical care we give to the elderly.

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webmaven 2 days ago

The smokers who DON'T get lung cancer still have more heart and lung problems (like emphysema, COPD, etc.), and those get significantly worse late in life.

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ghaff 3 days ago

Private life insurance may. I don't think health insurance generally does. Certainly Medicare doesn't ask about any of those things.

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SoftTalker 3 days ago

Health insurance can't ask about this since ACA (I think).
Life insurance can and often requires an actual physical exam. And can exclude specific activities such as flying on small private aircraft from coverage.

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