Call Stanford benefits and lecture them on how much you know. What group plan are you in? Health insurance always pays for things some use and some don't use. You pay less that way.
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Not regarding to smoking. In the last 7 or so year at least, every single plan option I have seen separated the smokers and non-smokers and charge different.
How does the insurance company know if all the smokers are checking the "non-smoker" box to save insurance premiums?
Doesn't the insurance company have it written into their contract with you that such is insurance fraud and at a minimum will result in dropped coverage when (not if) they find out?
Doctors can tell if someone is smoker or not, and if you check you are a non-smoker and get cancer your claim may be denied.
You know this right?
I suppose ... but I never have to deal with that. So the insurance company requires everyone to go get a physical and have a doctor verify if they are a smoker or not? Who verifies it to eliminate any false claims by smokers that they don't smoke? If someone gets cancer, then who has to prove that the person was or wasn't a smoker?
Smoker has a smell, and they have tars in their lungs, it is not like whether you exercise or brush your teeth but it is super obvious. Still if you want to try that feel free, but you will need to hire a lawyer willing to find a star witness to help you sue the insurance company and most lawyers will not waste their time if they can tell you are a smoker right away.
https://healthcareinsider.com/health-insurance-smokers-42747
Some people are still going to lie about it. What if someone doesn't go to the doctor very often or at all? What if they start smoking and never do get check-ups? Do the insurance companies require people to get a full exam, including checking for smoking, before they will insure someone now? All kinds of loop-holes possible.
That pack of Marlboros in your pocket...
What if someone cheats on their taxes and the IRS never finds out? Same concept.
I have been on my employer plan for 48 consecutive years. Now additionally Medicare. They aren’t the best employer for benefits either. There never has been a smoker non smoker option. Group plan, everyone gets it at the same price. Any actual evidence of what is being said? What about older people, should they pay more because they will use more? Obesity, should obese pay more? Many other examples.
People that cheat on their taxes can get red flags and then audited and caught, and fined. Insurance companies may not check and catch smokers who say they never smoke.
Maybe. And maybe. How lucky do you feel?
Your luck is inversely proportional to how much you cheat, lol.
When you file for a claim that needs large payment usually insurance would ask doctors to send you to do tests, and sometimes a second opinion paid for by the insurance (wife got one when she filed for short term disability extension), and those tests will usually have numbers that tell whether you are smokers or not.
This is I think why the rule I post said if you smoke more than 4 cigarettes a week or some guideline. The test would likely blur enough that if you are a daily smoker you would have numbers to tell. It won't fail if you only smoked once.
Like auto insurance, they won't ban you but they will check for fraud when you file a claim (like lung cancer treatment) just like auto insurance (like if your odometer run way past the claimed annual mileage at the time of a claim). Remember if they deny your claim and you are stuck, the only way to enforce it is to hire a lawyer to sue them, and no lawyer will represent you if they know you will lose.
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Maybe you have a good plan, I don't know.
Since at least 2011 or so every plan I was on have asked me if I am a smoker and told me I cannot lie otherwise it would be insurance fraud.
https://www.healthmarkets.com/content/smoking-and-health-insurance
There are protected class that insurance companies cannot charge differently, at least in employer plan health insurance you cannot charge differently based on ethnic, gender, age, or family size (only single, spouse or domestic partner, spouse or domestic partner + below age 26 children regardless of how many). I don't think obesity is there on the list because people can't control their health like they cannot control if they were born with birth defect.
Smoking however is a choice, so yes you can just quit if you think it is not fair to you, and they do want you to quit and provide free program to help outside of health insurance.
and for how long.Your luck is inversely proportional to how much you cheat, lol.
I would imagine if you are 99 and you cheat for 1 more year, the risk-reward ratio may be in your favor vs if you are 18 and you decided you want to "save money" till you retire at 65.
Insurace won't bother when people are not filing claims, the overhead cost of checks are high. I do know many require a physical exam for life insurances.
The point of health insurance is you are paying a small amount regularly to avoid an unaffordable large event, so if you are trying to mess with the claim just to save money, you kind of defeat the purpose and might as well not buy insurance.
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Are they fire hazards?
Obesity is caused by food intake and exercise, it doesn’t happen itself. Both smoking and eating too much are addictions. Which brings up another point, my health plan, and there are several choices of companies, has addiction treatment benefits. If I am not mistaken, there is smoking cessation treatment. No extra charge.
Like I said every doctor or medical group asks if you smoke, drink, etc. I never heard of separate costs just for smokers. This is not for pricing, but for information. That’s another one, drinking addiction. Drinking is not better than smoking. My plan is not unique, or even that good. Stanford is notoriously cheap. We have Kaiser as the baseline plan. If you want someone else, you pay, not Stanford. Kaiser is always cheaper.
So what plan are you on now, let’s look up the premiums. People talk but they don’t say who they get health insurance from.
BC / BS / UHC that my company offered in the past ALL have surcharges if you smoke. Maybe in your workplace it is different, but having these different prices, surcharge, whatever all the same.
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