Is smoking the reason for rising health insurance rates?

Question

http://www.medsocial.com/blog.aspx?blogaction=viewblog&show=267

article about it

Answer 1

No. The grossly inflated price fixing by the medical industry and the insurance companies is to blame. The insurance cartel spends even more buying votes than the oil company, the other government pampered price fixers,

Answer 2

I would not say that smoking specifically is the reason for high health insurance rates. However, if you are a smoker, you will automatically have a higher premium because a smoker is more susceptible to health problems. Smokers are the only people that can be discriminated against when it comes to insurance because your rate depends on whether you do or don't.

If you just take a second and consider how much people take advantage of health insurance, then, you'd have your answer. If you think about how much each individual pays for insurance, and then, consider how much more an insurance company pays out to pay for doctors visits, surgeries, prescriptions, etc. for that individual, they are paying out a lot more than what their customers are paying in.

Also, like someone else has said, people do not take care of themselves. So many people now are obese, have cancer, AIDS, you name it, and insurance companies are having to pay for all the things they need so they can stay alive.

Hope that answers your question.

Answer 3

Actually no. The health insurance impact of smoking in the US would have peaked somewhere in the 70's. There is still a heavy cost but not an increasing cost as the proportion of insured Americans that smoke has been decreasing for some time.

Answer 4

Where smoking may have a factor in it, it is by far the most significant reason. There is a rising rate of cancer, heart attacks, long term health issues that require maintenance like diabetes, stroke, cancer, obesity etc. You also have the rising cost of health care that includes paying for specialists, nurses, doctors, consultants, hospital rooms. You have people trying to take advantage of the system. Doctors taking advantage of the system. Doctors who must keep up with their rising costs like malpractice insurance (which could be someones annual salary), office space, need to raise rates due to insurance not paying enough for procedures, so they need more procedures to keep up.

You also have the poor health of the US population as a whole, the industry lobbyists, and of course there is the corporate big wigs that must have the golden parachutes.

That names a small part of why it costs so much.

Answer 5

Sorry, I don't read blogs.

No, the reason for rising health insurance rates is NOT smoking. It's an increased demand for more services, and higher level services.

The overweight population puts a MUCH greater strain on the medical system than the smokers.

Answer 6

Not necessarily. Another factor is the cost of healthcare, which is affected by overhead, such as malpractice insurance rates that are skyrocketing due to the number of lawsuits and the awards given by juries.

Answer 7

Considering that fewer people smoke now than say 30 years ago, I would have to speculate that there is another reason. My guess would be corporate greed.

Answer 8

No. Constant abuse by patients and doctors is the reason.

Answer 9

I am more inclined to believe it is greed of the staff and corruption of $1,000, 000,000, administrators

Answer 10

most likely