CVS To Penalize Workers Who Don't Disclose Weight, Body Fat

[Jazzy]

One of the country's largest pharmacy chains is asking its workers to find out how fat they are and then disclose it to their insurance provider.



Not only is that company, CVS Caremark, telling workers who use its health insurance plan to have a doctor determine their height, weight, body fat, blood pressure and other health indicators. It is also asking workers to give permission to the insurer to turn over that information to a firm that provides benefits support to CVS, the Boston Herald reports.



Workers who don’t take part in the voluntary “wellness review,” paid for by CVS, will have to pay an annual $600 penalty.



Obamacare could make such practices more common. The health care reform law allows employers to levy a higher penalty against workers who don’t participate in company wellness programs. In some cases, workers could also have to pay more if they don’t meet certain health targets like appropriate body mass index.



Michael DeAngelis, a CVS spokesman, wrote in an e-mail statement to The Huffington Post that, compliant with privacy laws, the company won’t have access to the health information. Instead, it will only be reviewed by the firm administering CVS’ benefits.

Full article



What are your thoughts about CVS doing this?

 

[seasidemike]

Excellent.. this is close to what I was talking about in another post about a fat tax..

something needs to be done about the obesity problem.

 

[Evil Eye]

Hmm. As long as they don't discriminate against people with actual medical conditions... it should be fine.

Excellent.. this is close to what I was talking about in another post about a fat tax..

Indeed. This is more or less what I meant when I said insurance companies should take care of these things.

 

[Jazzy]

Hmm. As long as they don't discriminate against people with actual medical conditions... it should be fine.

I agree with you as there are medical conditions and even medications that cause weight gain. Just hope they take this into consideration while performing the wellness review.