Obesity and Health Insurance

Alabama is the first state in the U.S. to require state employees to pay for their health insurance if they are obese.The Alabama State Employees' Insurance Board will assess a charge of $25 per month if any of the 37,527 state workers have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or higher and doesn't show weight-loss progress.

The Los Angeles Times reported this approval last week. Apparently, employees will have until the first month of 2010 to lose weight. Alabama is currently penalizing state employees for other unhealthy habits, such as smoking. A smoker has to pay $24 a month for their insurance. If you are a smoker and obese, you will be forking over $49 a month. A board member says, We are trying to get individuals to become more aware of their health."

On the surface, the proposal makes sense. It's widely accepted that being obese is a health risk - risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, and a myriad of other health problems. So why not penalize people for being unhealthy?

Apparently, there are numerous answers to this question. Most of the opposing answers are expressed by the Alabama state employees who have a problem with obesity.

A common response to this problem is that not all overweight people are unhealthy people. Studies have shown that about half of overweight Americans are healthy. They have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels. As for obese Americans, a third are still healthy, with normal blood pressure and cholesterol. This will prove to be an interesting debate to come.