Healthcare Reward After 34 Years of Teaching

[NCDem60]

I retired after 34 years of teaching. At the time I retired I was carrying 90/10 health insurance. Individuals paid for the increased coverage above 80/20. The state did away with that last year lowering the maximum you could have to 80/20. Now they have found a way for many teachers to lose that as well.

Just got this lovely E-mail:

State Health Plan for Teachers

Just a quick reminder about upcoming changes to the Health Insurance Plan:

Tobacco Cessation Component Begins July 1, 2010 – to enroll in the 80/20 plan, subscribers and their covered dependents must declare on the Attestation Form that they do not use tobacco products.

Weight Management Component Begins July 1, 2011 – to enroll in the 80/20 plan, subscribers and their covered dependents must declare on the Attestation Form that they have a BMI less than 40 kg/m2.

If you do not meet the standards your insurance is dropped to 70/30. For now. Nice.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. :^(

[Warpy]

2. Tobacco cessation in NORTH CAROLINA?

Damn, that would have been blasphemy not so long ago, it was a huge tobacco growing and cigarette manufacturing state.

What the hell changed?

[NCDem60]

3. You asked what changed...I hate to say this here but

.....democrats got full control of legislature. I'm a strong Democrat but sometimes we draw the line in the wrong place between watchdog and nanny.

[Warpy]

4. I remember butts at a quarter a pack and kids skipping their

school lunches at the age of nine to buy the damned things. Smoking was encouraged there and people thought little kids with cigs dangling out of their mouths was cute.

I hate it when this sort of thing is tied to health insurance. As much as I despise smoking, I despise the notion that health insurance companies should be able to increase profits by limiting risk by curtailing the legal behavior of any of its subscribers as well as refusing to insure people who have the bad luck to be sick.

This policy is dead wrong.

I'm just surprised it's in NC, that's all.

[NCDem60]

5. I remember all that too. The weight thing bothers me more.

[greennina]

6. Why would they punish weightlifters?

I don't understand that part. The densest people have a lot of muscle and strong bones. Why punish them for being healthy?

[NCDem60]

7. They are just nother zero tolerance casuality.