Posted on 05/09/2009 6:51:44 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In its effort to overhaul health care, Congress is planning to give employers sweeping new authority to reward employees for healthy behavior, including better diet, more exercise, weight loss and smoking cessation.
A web of federal rules limits what employers and insurers can do now.
Congress is seriously considering proposals to provide tax credits or other subsidies to employers who offer wellness programs that meet federal criteria. In addition, lawmakers said they would make it easier for employers to use financial rewards or penalties to promote healthy behavior among employees.
Two Democratic senators working on comprehensive health legislation, Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, and Tom Harkin of Iowa, have taken the lead in devising such incentives.
“Prevention and wellness should be a centerpiece of health care reform,” said Mr. Harkin, who regularly climbs the stairs to his seventh-floor office on Capitol Hill.
The White House agrees. One of President Obama’s eight principles for health legislation is that it must “invest in prevention and wellness,” a goal espoused in almost identical words by Republican senators like John Cornyn of Texas and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah.
Frank B. McArdle, a health policy expert at Hewitt Associates, a benefits consulting firm, said, “Wellness and prevention programs have become a mainstream part of the benefits offered by large employers, and it’s virtually certain that Congress will include incentives for such programs” in its bill. The goals of such programs are to help people control blood pressure, fight obesity and manage diabetes and other chronic conditions.
Under Mr. Harkin’s proposal, employers could obtain tax credits for programs that offer periodic screenings for health problems and counseling to help employees adopt healthier lifestyles. Programs could focus on tobacco use, obesity, physical fitness, nutrition and depression, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
... because the social engineering and micromanagement possibilities afforded by the Tax Code aren’t quite enough.
This was the goal of “national health care” all along -
control over people’s lives.
They’re going to control your energy usage and your access to healthcare. They’ll go for your access to gainful employment as well.
Play along and be a good serf, and you’ll be allowed to work, eat, heat your home to a nice comfortable 47 degrees in the winter, and get medical checkups.
Resist, and you’ll not be able to obtain what you need to live.
Do you suppose there will be rewards for employers that discourage homosexual behavior?
Do you suppose there will be rewards for employers that discourage homosexual behavior?
Isn’t extreme socialism pretty??? Well libs, you voted for it, now you can live with it too.
Preventive medicine and healthy habits have been the watchword for decades. The idea that new prevention measures will substantially decrease health care spending is laughable. These incentives (or more likely mandates) will probably increase health care costs in the short run. Employers have little control over the health habits of their employees. Many employees with poor health habits have long established conditions.
How long will it be before the Obama administration is cutting rules that subsidize - or penalize - Americans who think in certain ways, or don’t, as the government directs?
When the governent begins coercing lifestyles, the Mind Police can’t be far behind.
I think they could start with congress, and clean out some of the heavy weights there.. Ted Kennedy comes to mind. Nader, I bet almost a half of them are over weight..and Obama smokes, how many are druggies, another Kennedy comes to mind...then move on to heavy drinkers in congress..
On a positive note, my job allows me 3 hours a week of paid time off to work out at the gym. This is not 3 hours a week to leave early, screw around .... but 3x a week our group goes to the gym and run, lift weights and condition.
IMHO, 3 hrs a week is about perfect. It’s enough time to get a little bit of toning, lose weight and incentive to work more on our own to get in better shape.
If just 1 heart attack is eliminated; think of the cost savings. On the side, people find that working out with co-workers improves morale, decreases stress, and makes the job a ‘fun’ environment.
I wish that more companies would initiate similar programs. 3 hrs a week of lost productivity is easily offset by workers who return to their desk re-invigorated, healthy and happy.
Oh yes, I imagine there could be many “unhealthy thoughts” and “unhealthy attitudes.”
It would be a simple matter for a president with a compliant Secretary of Health to declare all conservative thought “antisocial” and therefore subject to regulation, fines, and even incarceration
We’re moving very quickly deep into hardcore fascist territory, and the American people are too preoccupied with their bread and circuses to pay any attention.
The federal government has escaped its constraints and is out of control.
And, YOUR COMPANY did it all on their own....without mandates from the government!!!
The Master of the Manor is worried that his serfs will start costing the Estate too much.
We have allowed government to intrude on our lives so much that now how much medical care we each require is a State
matter.
Wake up serfs!
And if people dont want to?
well..they get to pay a penalty....
Dont want to pay up?
No health care for you...
just exactly how are you supposed to prove that your eating better and exercising??? take a video of your family eating broccoli and doing 8 minute abe workout?
Daily piss tests and fecal samples....
But don't expect any of the FReeper sunshine patriots to lift a finger over this.
We're moving very quickly deep into hardcore fascist territory, and the American people are too preoccupied with their bread and circuses to pay any attention.
As they long have been. Far too many did far too little for far too long, and now they get to reap the rewards of their laziness. (And guess what? All those soon-t-be-illegal bullets won't be worth a thing unless you're really ready to use them -- and you sunshine patriots aren't. Take your noisy yap somewhere else.)
America -- a great idea, didn't last.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.