Several other large employers have begun charging higher premiums to employees who smoke, according to Mercer, a benefits consulting firm. Among the largest employers, about 28 percent vary their premiums based on tobacco use.
Mr. Rossiter defended the penalty for smokers, saying, “Tobacco users generally consume about 25 percent more health care services than nontobacco users.”
In its health care brochures, Wal-Mart told its employees that diseases caused by tobacco result in $96 billion in extra health care costs nationwide. And it noted that some other prominent companies, including Home Depot, Macy’s and PepsiCo, charge smokers more as part of their health plans.
Tammy Yancey, a $9.50-an-hour gas attendant at a Sam’s Club in Pinellas Park , Fla., complained that she would no longer be able to afford health insurance from the company. Ms. Yancey, a smoker, said her premiums would jump to $127.90 every two weeks — or $3,325 a year — up from $53.80 at present, when she earns $12,000 a year from her job.
“I won’t be able to afford the insurance,” she said. “And I really can’t go without insurance because I have a heart problem.”
I have a suggestion for Tammy! QUIT SMOKING! Why should the non-smoking coworkers lose their benefits because Tammy wants to smoke? If she has heart problems I'm convinced that she's been told many times over to QUIT SMOKING! What about you and me? If we have health issues, we owe it to our Community, we owe it to our Families, but mostly, we owe it to ourselves to LIVE Smoke FREE!
