Senators Harkin & Baucus Considering Enabling Employers to Punish Employees for Failure to Address Health Issues

May 11, 2009 by Michael Ricciardelli · 1 Comment
Filed under: Health Benefit Costs

Ralph Waldo Emerson, as scanned from "Ralph Waldo Emerson" by Oliver Wendell Holmes and Charles Dudley Warner. Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1885.

In Self Reliance Emerson states that “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company in which the members agree for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater.”

If Tom Harkin has his way, in addition to liberty, you may find yourself surrendering your cheeseburgers as well. The New York Times reports that Mr. Harkin and Max Baucus have proposed that in order to lower the costs of health care, employers be given the ability to reward and punish workers according to their relative health. Such rewards and punishments will be meted out in accord with measures such as cholesterol readings, blood sugar, weight, smoking, etc…

I would suggest that to reward is one thing, to punish is another. To John Stuart Mill is attributed the statement at the heart of classical liberal notions of ordered liberty: “The rights of your fist end at my nose.” I believe Mr. Harkin and Mr. Baucus have forgotten where their noses end and mine begins.

Tags: Cost Control, Health Care Reform, Health Reform, John Stuart Mill, Max Baucus, preventive care, Proposed Legislation, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Tom Harkin

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Pre-existing Conditions & Wellness Incentives: A Horse of a Different Color? : HEALTH REFORM WATCH says:

10/18/2009 at 8:09 pm

[...] that hasn’t received much attention as of late: wellness incentives tied to premium rates. As I have noted on this blog before, Senators Harkin and Baucus were both as of late said to have been considering legislative [...]

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Senators Harkin & Baucus Considering Enabling Employers to Punish Employees for Failure to Address Health Issues

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