To make sure that they people covered under the plan don’t have hugely expensive diseases.
$$$$$$$$$$$$
...checking for drug issues. Health insurance, general insurance for the township or community... their covering their butts.
This is usually done for life insurance however it is being done more recently for medical insurance in some areas.
If your employer is providing a coverage discount for being “healthy”, i.e. “wellness plans”, you will likely get a blood test even if just to ensure you are not a smoker.
I personally consider wellness plans discriminatory but that’s how they work.
They are screening for drugs and “blood anomalies”.
LLS
My former company “revamped” their insurance a few years ago as well and required this. Their was an option to go to your own doctor. They are looking at risk factors such as diabetes in order to create groups of high and low risk pools and change rates accordingly. All while adding domestic partner benefits which cost us more than any individual with a terrible disease.
I’ve also heard of companies that offer discounts for tobacco users sometimes testing to see whether or not subscribers are abiding by the rules.
The number 1 thing they will be testing for is HIV.
If the spouse is covered by the plan, that is why.
“Why do they want a blood sample from the spouses?”
That’s very odd. I worked for a city H.R. department, and the only mandatory drug testing was for employees. There was always testing for pre-employment health test. The second was random testing only for people in certain job classes in vehicle maintenance, etc.
I can’t believe spouse screening is OK, but in this nanny state, who knows?
I am assuming that the spouses are covered by the City’s health insurance. They probably have some right to request a blood test for their insurees.
If you are worried about something showing up, I would talk to a lawyer knowledgeable about medical law or labor law.
I am not an attorney, but I suspect that they can only compel this if the spouse is covered by the same health plan.
If a spouse is covered, there is likely to limited or no basis for objection. The usual purpose is preventative screening, with the potential for health improvement and cost reductions through medical and lifestyle interventions.
Collecting DNA samples for national data bases would be another good guess.
If you’re marking “no” to things like HIV and cancer, or not listing those types of things, the blood test is to verify that you’re telling the truth or not withholding information.
It would be very tempting for someone who is in the beginning stages of cancer to sign up for insurance and then afterward say “Oops - what are the chances of that?”