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Article: Commentary: Office Visit: Should personal health affect your premiums?
- Article from:
- THE JOURNAL RECORD
- Article date:
- October 28, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 THE JOURNAL RECORD. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Conversations on health care reform cover many topics, but there
is one subject that has not been widely addressed. America's health
care problems have been blamed on insurance companies,
pharmaceutical companies, physicians and the government. But little
has been said about the one person who, in many cases, has the
control - the patient.
More than half of Americans consider it fair to ask people with
unhealthy lifestyles to pay higher insurance premiums and higher
deductibles or copayments, according to an online survey conducted
by the Wall Street Journal in July 2006. Many employers, like my
own, enforce surcharges on employees who smoke. This voluntary
activity has damaging effects on ...