5 ms·

Under current US law, health insurance companies can't even adjust your premiums for serious preexisting conditions, much less because you bought some beer. Au

Under current US law, health insurance companies can't even adjust your premiums for serious preexisting conditions, much less because you bought some beer. Auto insurance could maybe do it though.

mbg721 5y ago
Many plans are highly punitive towards smokers; it's not a huge leap to imagine something new becoming the Sin Of The Week.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  It's hard to compare smoking to the 'sin of the week'. It's the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. (or was a few years ago), and probably has been for generations. It is one of the most studied and prolonged public health issues. It's hard to blame smoking insurance costs on 'sin' - it kills people and increases costs for the insurance company, possibly more than any other choice people can make. If you drive in drag races and ask for car insurance, don't be surprised if it costs more.
  - mbg721 5y ago
    And this kind of argument will be made for booze, sugar, meat, etc., but only when piling on the users of each one is politically fashionable.
JohnWhigham 5y ago
Don't think that could not change in a heartbeat, given how powerful the healthcare lobby is in Congress.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- DennisP 5y ago
  And yet the ACA passed in the first place.
  - droopyEyelids 5y ago
    the ACA was a big win for insurers.
  - kelnos 5y ago
    I expect that a law that requires people to buy health insurance made the insurance industry very happy.
alasdair_ 5y ago
The trick is to use a proxy for the metric that IS permissible in much the same way that financial companies in the 1960s used address data once it became illegal to discriminate directly because someone was black.
- DennisP 5y ago
  The only factors are "location, age, tobacco use, plan category, and whether the plan covers dependents." Maybe some zipcodes drink more than others, but they don't need to figure that out because they can just look at illness rates for the zipcode directly. Same for age and tobacco. https://www.healthcare.gov/how-plans-set-your-premiums/ https://www.healthcare.gov/how-plans-set-your-premiums/

Under current US law, health insurance companies can't even adjust your premiums for serious preexisting conditions, much less because you bought some beer. Auto insurance could maybe do it though.

mbg721 5y ago

Many plans are highly punitive towards smokers; it's not a huge leap to imagine something new becoming the Sin Of The Week.

wolverine876 5y ago
It's hard to compare smoking to the 'sin of the week'. It's the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. (or was a few years ago), and probably has been for generations. It is one of the most studied and prolonged public health issues. It's hard to blame smoking insurance costs on 'sin' - it kills people and increases costs for the insurance company, possibly more than any other choice people can make. If you drive in drag races and ask for car insurance, don't be surprised if it costs more.
- mbg721 5y ago
  And this kind of argument will be made for booze, sugar, meat, etc., but only when piling on the users of each one is politically fashionable.

JohnWhigham 5y ago

Don't think that could not change in a heartbeat, given how powerful the healthcare lobby is in Congress.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
DennisP 5y ago
And yet the ACA passed in the first place.
- droopyEyelids 5y ago
  the ACA was a big win for insurers.
- kelnos 5y ago
  I expect that a law that requires people to buy health insurance made the insurance industry very happy.

alasdair_ 5y ago

The trick is to use a proxy for the metric that IS permissible in much the same way that financial companies in the 1960s used address data once it became illegal to discriminate directly because someone was black.

DennisP 5y ago
The only factors are "location, age, tobacco use, plan category, and whether the plan covers dependents." Maybe some zipcodes drink more than others, but they don't need to figure that out because they can just look at illness rates for the zipcode directly. Same for age and tobacco. https://www.healthcare.gov/how-plans-set-your-premiums/ https://www.healthcare.gov/how-plans-set-your-premiums/