A pack of cigarettes a day, eating an 'easy meal' four times a week, never exercising? When do you actually live unhealthy and should you pay more health care premium?
Yes, unhealthy behavior may be punished with a higher premium. At least, that is what more than half of the healthcare professionals and managers think.
Striking outcome
Traditionally, healthcare workers attach great value to solidarity between sick and healthy people. In that case, it should not matter how much risk you run of becoming ill, it will not affect the premium. The outcome of the research is therefore striking.
How come?
The costs in healthcare continue to rise and the aging population is also hitting hard. These are probably two important factors that have changed the opinion of healthcare professionals and managers.
And further…
Many expensive treatments add relatively few healthy years to the patient's life. More than half of this treatment should be covered by the basic insurance. The same goes for IVF treatments. That would mean that you have to pay a large part for this yourself.
The crisis strikes
We will not end up with cuts in healthcare. There is a need to cut costs everywhere, including in healthcare. But then, how do you determine when someone is living unhealthy? Is someone who is overweight by definition unhealthy, are you unhealthy if you never exercise or smoke too much? We are curious what you think about higher premiums for unhealthy people. Share your opinion.
Source of research:Healthcare Vision and Doctor and Auto
