CVS employees must reveal body weight or pay higher premiums

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http://www.wafb.com/story/21748962/...-body-weight-or-pay-higher-insurance-premiums

CVS employees will have to reveal their body weight, body fat and other medical information or pay higher insurance premiums.

The company told employees they must have a doctor determine their weight, height, body fat, blood pressure, glucose and fasting lipid levels by May 1 or pay an extra $50 per month, or $600 a year for benefits.
 
So...if they do this (go to the dr) and they are determined to be overweight, diabetic, suffering from high cholesterol, requiring meds, their insurance premiums won't be raised? If that's the case, then why wouldn't you just do it? (I mean, chances are, if it's embarrassment over your weight that's keeping you from doing it, people have probably already guessed that you are overweight).

(And I write this as an overweight person.)

Of course, maybe there's some other reason, but judging from the criteria they are requesting, it appears to be all weight or metabolically related.

And I don't really blame CVS for charging them extra for insurance if they don't do it, because if they are unwilling to go to the dr, then chances are, they are unwilling to make the changes necessary to lower their weight, cholesterol, blood pressure or glucose (because if they were really trying to become healthier, they wouldn't mind going to the dr), and they are going to end up costing the company a fortune in care costs somewhere down the road.
 
Health care is getting too controlling for me to accept. People who are overweight, underweight, disabled, genetically impaired, etc may someday be penalized or denied health care if they don't duck step. CvS will be given a reason not to hire certain people, imo. I wonder if anyone at cvs besides the managers and pharmacists even get insurance anyway.
 
What happens if they don't, for example, get down to a healthy weight - anything?

The company health plan that I have requires me to fill out a form asking about weight and many other things or I have to pay more (and it's more than $600, I think). This is nothing new - we have been doing this for close to 20 years, if I recall. One slight difference is that we don't have to go to a doctor. They take our word for it on things like weight and if they ask about something that we haven't had checked, like glucose, we just tell them that we haven't had that done and that's usually it. If something, like weight, is way out of bounds, they send you information on how to improve your situation but there is no penalty if you don't improve.
 
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinio...experts_cvs_won_t_be_last_to_seek_health_info

CVS Caremark Corp., which has 200,000 employees, has told all workers who use the company’s health insurance to “voluntarily” report their weight, height, body fat, glucose and lipid levels to CVS’ insurer by May 1 — or pay an additional $600 a year for coverage.

“We want to help our employees to be as healthy as they can be, which is why we decided to implement this plan,” CVS spokesman Michael D’Angelis said yesterday.

bbm, All? or just the ones on your plan?
 
Hmm. Interesting.

I understand the health issues excess weight causes. They are serious and life threatening, however, a thin person can have the same issues, especially if genetic and/or if not eating at all. (Think anorexia, bulimia health issues for instant heart failure, etc...) Or for many other reasons, smoking, drug use, including prescription drugs, allergies, it can go on and on here as far as insurance is concerned.

Is this also in anyway b/c the stores are getting smaller, jam packed with so much carp you cannot get through the aisles even if thin? I just wonder.

Not every over weight person can exercise and eat lettuce to lose weight. Not every over weight person can take thyroid meds to lose weight. My sister was an example. At age 9 she weighed nearly 200 pounds, nothing worked. At age 2 a doc on a naval base had her on a grapefruit and boiled egg diet. :( When she passed she was much, much heavier. Needless to say, a CVS store would not have hired her with this plan in place, but she would have been a great counter person b/c she loved to chat with people about any and every little thing. Not many companies did hire her. Telemarketing was the best it got. :( :(
 
Does CVS cover their employees health care after their retirement? If they do, then I don't really see what difference any bad health habits make. After all, you are going to die from something someday and the last couple of years are almost always going to cost a lot of money no matter what the cause is. In fact, dying of smoking caused lung cancer at 66 is probably going to cost a lot less than treating you for Alzheimer's Disease when you're 86 - and 10 years on until you finally punch the big time-card at 96.
 
Elley Mae said:
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinio...experts_cvs_won_t_be_last_to_seek_health_info

CVS Caremark Corp., which has 200,000 employees, has told all workers who use the company’s health insurance to “voluntarily” report their weight, height, body fat, glucose and lipid levels to CVS’ insurer by May 1 — or pay an additional $600 a year for coverage.

“We want to help our employees to be as healthy as they can be, which is why we decided to implement this plan,” CVS spokesman Michael D’Angelis said yesterday.

bbm, All? or just the ones on your plan?
Click to expand...

Well, could you imagine the uproar if they asked ALL employees to report their weight/glucose/ect., even if they WEREN'T on their insurance?
 
I didn't get the impression, at all, that this was a pre-hire kind of thing (meaning, they either are, or are not going to hire you based on what you tell them.) This is for employees already hired.

My husband had a similar scenario, but in reverse. He got "points" which would accumulate and then he would receive a debit card for a certain amount (based on how many points he got). He got points for going to the doctor for routine check ups, and points based on test results (glucose, bp, cholesterol). I'm sure weight factored in there, and I'm sure he got points off for that. :)
 
STANDREID said:
What happens if they don't, for example, get down to a healthy weight - anything?
The company health plan that I have requires me to fill out a form asking about weight and many other things or I have to pay more (and it's more than $600, I think). This is nothing new - we have been doing this for close to 20 years, if I recall. One slight difference is that we don't have to go to a doctor. They take our word for it on things like weight and if they ask about something that we haven't had checked, like glucose, we just tell them that we haven't had that done and that's usually it. If something, like weight, is way out of bounds, they send you information on how to improve your situation but there is no penalty if you don't improve.
Click to expand...

(bbm)
Then they would pay more for health insurance.
 
oh_gal said:
(bbm)
Then they would pay more for health insurance.
Click to expand...

I apologize if I missed something but I only saw that they had to pay more if they didn't go to the doctor and report the results. I didn't see it specified that your health care cost would also go up if you didn't do anything to improve your health as a result seeing the doctor and giving them the information. Perhaps that happens but I didn't see it in any of the articles.
 
oh_gal said:
I didn't get the impression, at all, that this was a pre-hire kind of thing (meaning, they either are, or are not going to hire you based on what you tell them.) This is for employees already hired.

My husband had a similar scenario, but in reverse. He got "points" which would accumulate and then he would receive a debit card for a certain amount (based on how many points he got). He got points for going to the doctor for routine check ups, and points based on test results (glucose, bp, cholesterol). I'm sure weight factored in there, and I'm sure he got points off for that. :)
Click to expand...

bbm, They have to start somewhere. Years ago I worked for a pretty big company that did alot of gov work and when it came time to implement new things they would phase them in. Like education, first no H.S. diploma, then H.S. diploma, then B.S degree, but that did not effect the existing employees, just the new hires. I am thinking that this is the beginning of things to come and it will eventually be a pre-hire kind of thing. jmo
 
STANDREID said:
I apologize if I missed something but I only saw that they had to pay more if they didn't go to the doctor and report the results. I didn't see it specified that your health care cost would also go up if you didn't do anything to improve your health as a result seeing the doctor and giving them the information. Perhaps that happens but I didn't see it in any of the articles.
Click to expand...

No, sorry...it was me who misunderstood what you were saying.
 
Elley Mae said:
bbm, They have to start somewhere. Years ago I worked for a pretty big company that did alot of gov work and when it came time to implement new things they would phase them in. Like education, first no H.S. diploma, then H.S. diploma, then B.S degree, but that did not effect the existing employees, just the new hires. I am thinking that this is the beginning of things to come and it will eventually be a pre-hire kind of thing. jmo
Click to expand...

But they're not saying it's a pre-employment thing. Maybe someday it will be, but that's not what it is now. For all we know, that type of discrimination already exists with pre-employment physicals.
 
When I hired into a job 49 years ago, I had to take a physical and they wouldn't have hired me if my spine didn't look good on the x-ray.
 
My old job held a 'voluntary' health fair which gave you a small gift certificate, which became a high pressured 'voluntary' health fair and no gift certificate which became mandatory health fair and if you missed the health fair you were required to go to doctor's office for the tests or face making your own health care payments.

Last I heard there were rumors of added additional monthly cost if you smoked or were overweight. Since a lot of people had desk jobs, not me, many were considered overweight, and no real place for the employees to exercise at work on lunch or break time except to walk in the parking lot if the weather was nice enough. Nine to five for most people with commutes, time getting ready for work and later getting dinner and such for family doesn't leave much time for anyone to get in any meaningful exercise. IMO if they want the employees to exercise more why not put treadmills in one of the empty rooms? Many employees requested this but it fell on management's deaf ears.
 
Hospitals won't hire nicotine users, so there's nothing to stop a company from refusing to hire overweight people or making them pay more insurance payments.
 
Pretty soon we'll all be eating the same thing at the same time and living the same life in order to please the actuarial Gods with a spread sheet.

Maybe we'll all think alike one day because our regulators told us so.

Sounds to me like the Stepford wives are back again.

Eat your spinach everyone.
 
My employer, which is a major healthcare organization, has been doing this for 2 years. I met goal last year; this year might be a different story (too much ice cream...LOL).
 
txsvicki said:
Hospitals won't hire nicotine users, so there's nothing to stop a company from refusing to hire overweight people or making them pay more insurance payments.
Click to expand...



BBM

Where is this?

Here although you must go to the side of the road to smoke, even the employees from our Heart Institute are seen there smoking (they wear different color scrubs).
 
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