House passes nation’s most draconian wellness provisions for state employees (Update: The Insider reports that the Senate also passed the bill)

So we see here the ultimate triumph of the corporatacracy: draconian punishments meted out to the victims of multi-billion dollar advertising campaigns for nutrient-free (but fat- and sugar-rich) foods and/or the clandestine but deliberate inducement to drug addiction through the “harmless” “pleasure” of smoking. Where, in all of this, are the penalties for the real Perps — the corporate profiteers (including BCBS)? To the best of my knowledge, not one dime of the huge Tobacco Settlement was made available to help hooked smokers who wanted to quit. How about directing some of that Tobacco Settlement money toward a stop smoking programs and/or nicotine replacements (gum, patch, etc.)? The State of Maine makes nicotine replacements available to people at NO CHARGE — just like methadone. Which leads to a question about the invasive tests: multiple studies have proven that people have a higher success rate with smoking cessation if they use one or more nicotine replacement products. There are no proven long term negative health impacts from these products. If the State of NC tests are directed at detecting nicotine in the bloodstream, how will they distinguish between smokers and people who have substituted the patch, nicotine gum, etc. for the deleterious habit of smoking? Or do people just get dinged because they (the State) can?

I will be printing this over on my blog as well.

BCBS may claim to be “non-profit,” but they’re STILL [expletives deleted] _parasites_. _What_ has been going on “behind the scenes” in Raleigh?

It’s time to publish ALL the names of the NC legislators who voted for this travesty of a health plan–and let them know during the very next election what we think of them!

And, the state of NC making blood and breathalizer tests, assuming those projected actions will occur? Wouldn’t that fall under the headings of “unconstitutional” and “illegal search and seizure”?

Who will be the first to challenge this in court, I wonder?

‘Low income employees who have no place to exercise…’

Hold on a sec. Do you mean that low income people are incapable of walking, running, finding a flight or stairs to climb, chopping wood, gardening, doing push ups, situps etc without also having a gym membership?

LOL!!! Surely you are not THAT myopic?

at least state employees can keep toking the blessed herb since we wont face random urine tests! LOL

How about making the membership to a health club such as onre associated with a hospital a covered service at 100% so we can get to a normal weight? If you have excerise induced asthma like me it is not a easy thing to just say walk. That can cause an attack that will send you to the hospital making the health cost greater.

In an environment of trying to cut costs and take shortcuts – I wonder what the estimated cost will be for these “special” tests? Who is going to pay for the tests?

If we are going to target people who are at risk with health issues, who will be next? Diabetics, folks with family history of heart problems, those many alcoholics who are not only killing themselves but also putting others at risk? Where will it stop?

While “wellness” provisions are a great idea, people should be given DISCOUNTED rates for insurance if THEY can prove that they are an appropriate BMI and dont smoke, but what the state is doing is wrong! No one should be singled out like this. Not every overweight person or smoker suffers from problems and to be honest, I know people who are healthy weight and have never smoked but have mutliple health issues, requiring more MD visits than I ever saw my mother or husband have and they both smoked and Mom is overweight! So, just increasing rates for those who choose to smoke and the overweight is unjust, it is discrimination in its simplest form and an absolutely dispecable way to increase revenue. Afterall, you are pinching state employees everywhere you van, coupled with increased costs in the rest of our lives, this is an outrage! We work for the people of NC, government needs to work for us and make sure OUR NEEDS are taken care of too!

Good! Every single person should take responsibility for his/her own health. Keeping weight down is incredibly hard for everybody. It is not right that those who do work hard to try and maintain a healthy lifestyle pay extra insurance dollars and medical costs for those who choose not to live a healthy lifestyle. Everybody knows that smoking kills you and junk food is bad. Besides, cigarettes are incredibly expensive. Here now is financial incentive for overweight smokers to quit smoking and use that cigarette $$ to buy healthier food. A gym membership is not needed, go for a walk every day, ride an exercycle in front of your tv if you do not want to go outside, it can be done!!! Take responsibility for yourself!!

Everybody dies from something, let’s just leave it at that, it may not show up now, but someone will have Parkinson’s disease, another cancer, and yet another Alzheimer’s. Let people live in peace and stop discriminating against them based illness!!

Sorry, but far as I can discern a breathalyzer for nicotine is fiction. The only REAL tests (for cotinine, a metabolic byproduct, not nicotine) are blood, urine or saliva. Neither substance is volatile at body temperature.

I don’t smoke and I have a BMI that does not put me at risk for this action. That said, it is disappointing to make such a drastic move without creating a pathway for fellow state employees to make these changes (for those who do). These are lifestyle choices, that have, over time (many years for some) become addictions, some more physiological than others. It is grossly unfair to immediately declare this will be the “new rule” without support and a pathway to comply with the “new rule”.

BCBS is, on the other hand, a 501(c)(3) in tax status only. Their business model is just that, business (driven by positive margins) and one key difference is they don’t pay taxes and we do.

The general assembly is facing terrible options and I don’t pretend to think that I know more about the circumstances they face than they do. That said, I do think more has to be done to leverage the size of our buying power and either consider other insurance products by other insurers or create more options with BCBS.

It’s not a failure to want employees to be healthy. However, it is a failure if means, support and time are not provided for those who need to improve their health.

what if your body weight is inherited? Then what?
and for someone who put in there comments that they should be penalized you are so wrong for that! Some people can’t help it. And no I’m not overweight not close to it. I’m only 110pnd and 5’3. I have a heart and mind and think about others. State employees should not be penalized for the State’s money mishap,we work for the state, keep us in mind we(employees) help state facility’s to run! It’s ridiculus crazy insane. Did The legislative think about there family memebers if they are covered under there state health plan, hope they don’t smoke or overweight they will get hit with the same thing! This is a discrimination!!!

Just out of curiosity, was there any discussion at all during this session about asking MDs at places like UNC Hospitals to pay a portion (even 5% would save millions of dollars) of their own health insurance? How many people even know that the doctors get their health insurance for free? Why doesn’t SEANC, for instance, take issue with this giveaway in a time of economic recession to people who earn 6 figure salaries? Doctors get a free ride when it comes to their health insurance and they receive other perqs that alone often add up to more than the average state employee makes in a year.

As Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis once said, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth [and power] concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

While we’re talking about people taking responsibility for their own health, let’s look at people who aren’t taking responsibility for bearing their share of the economic burden. I don’t mind biting the bullet but I DO mind being expected to bite the bullet while the rich and powerful consume the whole pie.

The world has gone totally stupid and if the State Employees and other North Carolinians put up with this crap, they are more stupid than I can imagine. I am 65 years old, 5’4″ and weigh between 160-165 most days, my blood pressure is ideal (according to my happy doctor), have no cholesterol problems, no blood sugar problems, walk 30 minutes on a treadmill five days a week and outside when I can, try to eat healthy food, and not too much of it, but my BMI is still high according to “insurance standards”. I do not and never have smoked, but I think that smokers are already extremely discriminated against because, in my opinion, they have just as much right to smoke as I do not to smoke and I am overweight,(probably obese by insurance standards) therefore, I am to pay a penalty also? Just a new form of discrimination as if there isn’t already enough out there? Who are these legislators who rushed this bill through – how big a kickback do they get from BCBS? Maybe they get free insurance and a kickback? We, the people of North Carolina, need to wake up and take charge of our lives instead of letting idiots (or maybe they just don’t think things through, to be nicer), run, or is that “ruin” our lives. Salaries for the State will not go up this year and probably not next year, or the next, but everything else can go up in cost – makes sense to me.

Can state employees refuse coverage from BCBS and buy their own health insurance from a different company? Maybe that’s what everyone should do. To heel with BCBS!!!!!!!!

Hey If you think this is BAD, wait until we get NATIONALized Obama health care! Take a number and WAIT!

There will be a health tax on obesity!

As if the state didn’t already have problems attracting and retaining qualified, competent people due to payscales that run about 30 % behind the private sector. Now they want to nickel and dime us for health coverage. Good luck keeping young, healthy people around at all.

BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD YOU SUCK!

This may not be the best first step in making people take responsibility for their choices but at least it gets the ball moving. I make an effort to eat in moderation and exercise. Every day at my work I see the same people opt for the elevator over the stairs and junk food over real food or nothing at all. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that a daily regimen of Bojangles for breakfast, burritos for lunch, and God knows what for dinner will only lead to obesity and higher medical bills. It’s amazing the aversion some people have developed to movement. When construction closed the nearest bus stop people were incensed that they had to walk an extra block even though the unwanted exercise probably added a week to their lives. It’s ridiculous the excuses people make for these behaviors and I shouldn’t have to subsidize their medical consequences.

You can see exactly who voted for and against this horrible bill at the following links:

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/RollCallVoteTranscript.pl?sSession=2009&sChamber=H&RCS=207

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/RollCallVoteTranscript.pl?sSession=2009&sChamber=S&RCS=163

Call your legislators and either thank them or raise hell, depending on which way they voted. Ask them why the BCBS contract with the state is a no-bid contract. Ask them why the contract is not public record (only three people have access to it and even the governor is not one of them). Ask them what they hidiing. Ask the Wake County delegation why they abandoned state employees when they helped most of them get elected/re-elected (Rep. Deborah Ross, Rep. Jennifer Weiss, Rep. Ty Harrell, Rep. Grier Martin, Sen. Doug Berger). Ask Sen. Tony Rand and Rep. Hugh Holliman how much kickback they are getting from BCBS. Ask Rep. Dan Blue if he has forgotten that he is no longer employed as a lobbyist for BCBS.

Once again our legislators have proved they are sensitive to the Lobbyists, not the citizens! NOT ONE STEP has been taken to CURB THE COSTS OF HEALTHCARE ITSELF. THEY HAVE LOBBYISTS working for them. They are making sure they get their money out of the State Health Plan – that is what this funding is all about.The pharmacies, the hospitals, the doctors can bill without accountability – it’s all left up to BCBS to decide what is paid and what isn’t. Once again the politicians sacrifice the state employees and put more families in financial jeopardy. We already have had some state employees on Medicaid!!!!! I hope the Medicaid Program is preparing for its upcoming shortfall when families are pushed there!!!!!

While I applaud the concept of rewarding those with healthy lifestyles, this has not happened here. This is too little too late, another temporary solution to a permanent problem. The cost of verifying eligibility will be additional to the ‘administrative costs’ of the SHP and I can only wonder how well that will be managed – gee, I wonder what the ‘administrative costs might include – salaries for the people who are supposed to be managing the Plan? and haven’t? $250 million dollar shortfall – why? because we are so busy paying for illegal aliens’, and even legal ones’, healthcare? And we are expected as a group to fund that? While the health providers received no reduction in what they are reimbursed? Have even one of those voting for this mess ever had to live with it?

When was the last time you received an itemized bill so you would even know what your insurance has been charged for? As individuals I believe it’s time to take back ownership – start requesting an itemized bill from each provider – they won’t like it – because they are accustomed to conducting their business as if you have no part in it. and they are right

you all are getting bogged down over the smoking and weight issues which I agree are stupid and burdensome – especially to the State Employees and the Plan will of course had to add some costs for that – I’m sure we will get charged for the ‘test’! – but go look at the two plans, look at the differencse in them – we are all still going to have to pay more and get less –

this is a bill of the doctors, by the doctors, for the doctors,,,,,,

I like most of the North Carolina State Employee I know who make a low salary(under $30,000.00) but continue to work hard to do our jobs.The health plan was on of the few benefits slightly above average we have enjoyed.

Again bad decisions are made by people who are paid a great deal, receive nice perks and are given better benefits than we can imagine receiving. Maybe the people making the decisions should live like most of us do, work hard,live off low pay, work second jobs to make ends meet,.drive old cars,can’t afford vacations and worry about being able buy needed medications. What more could we possibly ask for, I know higher deductable ,more out of the pocket expenses and a plan that punishes people who might be struggling with weight or smoking issues .An added note I am a little heavier than I should be but healthier than all the thin people I know. Sounds like profiling to me.Does anyone making decisions really care about state employees? Actions speak louder than words.

Is it true that BCBS is a non profit that made $120 million in profit last year? Why is North Carolina not looking into finding an insurance provider who is not so greedy?

I agree that obesity and smoking is the cause of many health problems. This has motivated me to lower my BMI by 2011 and I will. Not out of necesssity, but because I want to. With all the controversy this bill is causing, you can rest assured knowing that this is only the beginning. I predict within the next decade, a new bill will be introduced to penalize you if you get cancer or some other dreaded disease; your premiums will increase or your insurance will be canceled.

First of all some of you prissy phillies need to dismount your high horse. What you are missing is that States employee’s are being singled out as a scape goat for the states budget deficit. To say overweight people and those who smoke should pay a higher premium to be penalized fro their behavior is childish at best. The door is now open to discriminate against other groups. How about a higher premium for Diabetics? What I see in the bill is that those the states deams as undesirables will be dumped into the more expensive plan, but I do not see where all the healthy people will get a reduction of what they are already paying. I agree that the doctors should have to pay for there healthcare just like the rest of us. What plan are the legislators on? Do they pay anything for theirs? What makes BCBS so special? Drop their ass like a hot potato and find someone else. Also, start spreading the burden out over more people like the physicians and legislators. Maybe they would have to take one less exotic trip each year to help us balance the scale.

As Director of North Carolinians for Affordable Health Care for SEANC, I have always advocated healthy lifestyles in my presentations, including abstention from use of tobacco products and proper weight management. However, SB287 is a direct attack on every state employee serving North Carolina’s citizens. Both of the so-called wellness initiatives in SB287 punish state employees and any covered dependents by forcing them into the PPO Basic 70/30 Plan if any member in the family uses tobacco products or is obese. The positive incentives which were offered by SEANC to encourage wellness were totally ignored in this bill. Moreover, North Carolina now ranks as dead last for family coverage of state employees when compared to other states.

There is also hypocrisy in the fact that many legislators who voted for the draconian measures on state employees in SB287 oppose House Bill 2. House Bill 2 would prohibit smoking in all worksites with limited exceptions, as is already the requirement in state government worksites. This would protect the tens of thousands of state employees who must work second jobs just to make ends meet, help prevent the adverse impacts on their health from exposure to secondhand smoke, reduce their number of heart attacks and strokes, and reduce costs to the State Health Plan. Ironically, many of the same legislators who supported SB287, then argue that “private property rights” are more important than protecting workers from secondhand smoke. This despite the fact that the fact that restrictions on public exposure to secondhand smoke has been shown to decrease heart attacks and strokes by 41% (Pueblos Colorado Study) and despite the fact that HB2 would decrease Medicaid costs, which is the fastest growing segment of the State budget.

The so-called wellness initiatives in SB287 apparently had little to do with legislative concern for employee health. They were merely a smoke screen for cost shifting health costs to public servants by reducing their health insurance benefits.

Chuck, thanks for the SEANC perspective. Well said.

I support the change. Why should taxpayers be asked to pay for extensive health care for people who don’t take care of themselves? It takes discipline and effort to exercise, eat right and abstain from smoking — but it can be done.

As pointed out in the first comment, I don’t see how they can prove someone has been smoking as opposed to chewing nicotine gum. You have to state only that you’re not using tobacco products; there is no rule against gum/patch. It seems to me that if someone tests positive for cotinine (which is a nicotine metabolite & not specific to tobacco), unless they can prove your cotinine levels are from tobacco products, they’ll have no legal right to penalize you. I prognosticate that the legal fees the state will incur via such battles will cost loads more than any increased healthcare costs ever did…

Radio talker Michael Savage told World Net Daily (WND) he was “stunned” by the quick decision by incoming United Kingdom Home Secretary Alan Johnson to scrap his predecessor’s list of people banned from Britain – a list that included Savage along with Islamic hate preachers and mbt mwalk terrorists.Savage had mbt mwalk sued outgoing Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for libel for listing him, along with 15 others, as “least wanted” visitors in the country. Meanwhile, Smith’s successor, Alan Johnson, called the move a terrible blunder and told the London Daily Mail he would scrap the policy of maintaining such enemies lists.“I am stunned by this sudden sign of sanity in the UK government,” Savage told WND. “But I won’t believe it until they send a letter to me confirming it.”Savage said he also demands an apology from Smith.Johnson said Smith had no right to put Savage, the third highest rated radio talker in America, on the same list as a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, a skinhead gang leader and a Hezbollah militant.Last month, Smith resigned her position in the wake of scandal over personal use of taxpayer funds and her controversial ban of Savage.Savage took the offensive against her by a…

We live in a toxic age. Our water Is laced with heavy metals. The air we breathe is polluted with carbon byproducts. What we eat is chemically enhanced or genetically modified to last longer, taste better, and fill us up with superflu?ous calories. Even our body’s burning of fats, proteins and sugars for energy creates waste. So cleaning out our guts has to be a good idea, right?Yes and no. Our body can clean up its own mess, The body does not passively soak up toxins like a sponge. It has defences and resources which constantly act even while you sleep. When toxins enter your body, these are swiftly dealt with. But if our body can take care of its own waste, why do we sometimes feel bloated enough to want to stick a plunger down our gut? Pro-detox experts think we can do with some extra help.Experts thinks that the body is already detoxifying itself all along, but we live in a toxic environment. We suffer from stress, breathe little fresh air, some smoke & drinks, we also ate foods that are grill which produces dangerous carbon. Detoxify?ing is a means of strengthening our bodies to cope with these stresses. If we ignore stress-proofing your body, and you may face chronic diseases such as insomnia, fatigue, gastric problems, poor skin and premature aging due to the accumulation of toxins over the years.Contrary to what we think of detoxifying as literally flushing out blockages in our intestines, there are many detox methods available in the marke…

Going green is no longer a tagline for the trendsetters, it?? an accepted and expected way of life and it can easily be incorporated into building and outfitting your new metal carport, metal garage or metal utility building. Simply by choosing a metal structure, you??e already made a great green choice. Metal construction requires no harmful chemicals such as resin, adhesive, wood treatments or pesticides commonly used in traditional wood frame construction. Metal is highly resistant to water, mold and mildew which can emit harmful toxin into the air you and your family breathe. Metal and steel building MBT Barabara black elements also are 100% recyclable at the end of a structure?? usable life. And Carport Empire?? metal carports, metal garages and metal utility buildings are built to last ??particularly if they??e certified, meaning that they??e engineered to withstand heavy snow loads and high wind speeds. MBT Tembea men Metal enclosed carports, enclosed garages and steel carport utility buildings are easy to insulate, which can help conserve energy, further control moisture and resist pest invasions. Reflective MBT Tataga coffee insulation is made with aluminum foil, which is completely nonto…