Teamsters Local 1149 in Syracuse, New York, is fighting Pepsi’s health care policy that charges employees $50 a month if they smoke or have medical issues that may trigger weight gain. But Secretary-Treasurer Steve Richmond points out, “As trustee of a health and welfare fund, seeing smoking-related illnesses and the claims we pay on behalf of our members—not only employers are interested in saving money. Every time we sit down at the table, talks will turn to health care.”
…Connecticut state employees under 40 years old must now take a free physical every three years or pay $100 more per month for their insurance, plus a $350 deductible. Those over 50 take a physical every year.
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The Affordable Care Act pushes these programs. Those like Connecticut’s fit the ACA guidelines, but so do programs that require members to obtain or maintain a certain health outcome (such as being a non-smoker, getting specified results on biometric screenings, or exercising a certain amount), what the government calls “health-contingent wellness programs.”
The ACA-allowed bonus or penalty for those who don’t meet guidelines may be up to 20 percent of the cost of employee-only coverage—and that amount will rise to 30 percent in 2014.
The only safeguard against discrimination is that a “reasonable alternative standard” must be made available to those for whom it is “unreasonably difficult due to a medical condition to satisfy the original standard.”
It’s unclear how these rules will be interpreted. Is it unreasonable to expect a worker whose boss yells at her all day to quit smoking within 90 days? Is a yelling boss a medical condition?
Coercive Wellness Programs Create New Headaches | Labor Notes: