Now that the government owns your healthcare, they can make you do what they want. You Smoke? Pay more! Overweight? Pay more! Drive an V8? Pay more! Own a gun? Pay more!
Posted on 02/01/2013 11:26:39 AM PST by BO Stinkss
Smokers, beware: tobacco penalties under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act could subject millions of smokers to fees costing thousands of dollars, making healthcare more expensive for them than Americans with other unhealthy habits.
The Affordable Care Act, which critics have also called “Obamacare”, could subject smokers to premiums that are 50 percent higher than usual, starting next Jan 1. Health insurers will be allowed to charge smokers penalties that overweight Americans or those with other health conditions would not be subjected to.
A 60-year-old smoker could pay penalties as high as $5,100, in addition to the premiums, the Associated Press reports. A 55-year-old smoker’s penalty could reach $4,250. The older a smoker is, the higher the penalty will be.
Nearly one in every five U.S. adults smokes, with a higher number of low-income people addicted to the unhealthy habit. Even though smokers are more likely to develop heart disease, cancer and lung problems and would therefore require more health care, the penalties might devastate those who need help the most – including retirees, older Americans, and low-income individuals.
“We don’t want to create barriers for people to get health care coverage,” California state Assemblyman Richard Pan told AP. “We want people who are smoking to get smoking cessation treatment.”
Nearly 450,000 US residents die of smoking-related diseases each year, making the unhealthy habit a serious concern for lawmakers. One legislator is trying to criminalize smoking in his state, while others have raised taxes on cigarettes and the Obama administration has tried to inflict hefty fines upon smokers’ premiums.
Karen Pollitz, a former consumer protection regular, told AP that no insurers want to provide coverage for Americans who have been smoking for decades, and that the penalties might prompt people to abandon the habit.
“You would have the flexibility to discourage them,” she told AP.
But quitting is not easy, and charging older smokers up to three times as much as younger ones could make it difficult for them to seek care in the first place. A 60-year-old smoker charged with the penalty could be paying about $8,411 per year for health insurance, which is about 24 percent of a $35,000 income and is considered “unaffordable” under federal law.
“The effect of the smoking (penalty) allowed under the law would be that lower-income smokers could not afford health insurance,” said Richard Curtis, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions.
Ultimately, the law that is meant to make health care more affordable could have the opposite effect on older smokers at a time when smoking-related illnesses usually arise.
Now that the government owns your healthcare, they can make you do what they want. You Smoke? Pay more! Overweight? Pay more! Drive an V8? Pay more! Own a gun? Pay more!
“more expensive for them than Americans with other unhealthy habits.”
Like sodomy?
Are homos getting higher premiums?
I smoke and cigarettes never gave me AIDS or STDs.
Smokers cost less in healthcare because they die sooner.
I thought they were already charged higher premiums. How does this change things?
Vote Republican? PAY EVEN MORE!!!!!!!!!!
Make druggies, queers and other sodomites pay double or triple too.
"You are all fools. WE do not care, because
WE do not LIVE UNDER the laws and taxes we pass for YOU."
I used to smoke, but I lost all my cigars in an unfortunate boating accident.
So sad that we can’t tolerate all the deviants, but, the contemporary world is supposed to be more civilized than the world before the first century. Imagine that. Let’s not focus on the religion of homosexual behavior and think about science and infectious diseases. A study which analyzed tens of thousands of gay obituaries and compared them with AIDS deaths data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), has shown that the life expectancy for homosexuals is about twenty years shorter than that of the general public. The study, entitled “Gay obituaries closely track officially reported deaths from AIDS”, has been published in Psychological Reports (2005;96:693-697). The actual life expectancy for a homosexual male with AIDS is 39 . . . without AIDS . . . 41.
For a smoker? Early to mid 60s. AND, smokers don’t infect other people.
And for the homosexual community to brag about their lifestyle and to shove it in our face instead of getting psychological help—well, it doesn’t make you the brightest bulb in the sack. When I see the “gays” giggling on the TV shows and mocking the normal people I just laugh and think they must have AIDS dementia.
How much will hussein have to pay?
Too funny as this will effect mostly current Obama supporters.
Get with the program.
The pRes_ _ent and Congress and their staff
and mistresses and Islam are not under the penalties.
All Your Liberty Are Belong to Government
Smokers are already paying huge taxes for health care.
My mom smoked from age 20 (1948) until age 40 (1968) when both of my parents quit. Mom's heart began failing in 2010 with congestive heart failure episodes of increasing severity. The week before she passed, she had pain in her back. The doctor X-rayed her lungs to check for pneumonia vs the common "wet" lungs that come with edema from congestive heart failure. The doctor discovered cancer in both lungs. Her kidneys were down to 10% function from the diuretics used to treat the congestive heart failure. She was far too fragile to deal with the lung cancer. She declared in a perfectly clear fashion that she wanted a DNR on her medical chart and wanted to return to her assisted living arrangements. It was a very uncomfortable final few days for her.
As a postscript, Mom handed over the entire $3900/month of her social security plus another $1,000/month from her savings to stay in the assisted living facility from April 2011 to Nov 2011. The long term medical coverage that she and my dad paid $300/month over 30 years was declared "not eligible" because the facility didn't have an MD on site 24/7. The facilities that did have an MD 24/7 were full of shrieking wretches and odors that prompted an urge to vomit on many occasions. Check the terms and conditions of your coverage carefully.
“The actual life expectancy for a homosexual male with AIDS is 39 . . . without AIDS . . . 41.”
Wow.
Neanderthals fared better.
LMAO....
First smokers. Then the overweight. All so that the government can take our money and pay for abortions, sex “change” operations, and AIDS treatment.
I am not a smoker, but by these standards, gays need to be charged higher rates. A risky lifestyle is a risky lifestyle and deserves an increase. I also think that by the same token, obese people also need to be charged extra. We all know what lifestyles are unhealthy, we can’t just charge extra for the ones that are politically correct and expedient.
There is NOTHING in your life that couldn’t fall under the rubrik of “affects the healthcare system”.
Of course, like a later poster said, this will exclude behavior choices like sodomy, etc.
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