Smokers Need Not Apply

[Whooter]

There is no stopping this train.  Wait till the insurance companies get a hold of our individual DNA and we sit and scratch our heads wondering why people in high risks categories cant find a job or are being paid lower salaries………

Starting Feb. 1, Memorial Hospital no longer will hire people who use tobacco products, making the hospital one of a small number of employers nationwide that consider smoking status in job applicants.
Under the new rule, which does not affect current Memorial employees, those offered employment at the hospital will be tested for nicotine during their required drug test, a human resources officer said. Even nicotine gum or the patch would make a potential employee ineligible.
The decision not to hire tobacco users isn’t based on potential savings in health care costs, but rather is an extension of the hospital’s commitment to health, said Brad Pope, vice president of human resources.

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[Whooter]

  Whooter, Why do you think insurance companies would want this information?

Because I think we will someday be able to tell very quickly at birth what our chances of acquiring certain diseases will be like cancers, diabetes, depression, substance abuse, chances of living a long life  etc. based on our DNA.  Insurance companies are sure to want to have this information and would mark each person and inevitably influence our lives financially.



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[Ursus]

Wait till the insurance companies get a hold of our individual DNA and we sit and scratch our heads wondering why people in high risks categories cant find a job or are being paid lower salaries………

Ultimately, this turns into a great incentive for people to lie about certain habits and particulars to their family physician.

[Ursus]

Whooter, Why do you think insurance companies would want this information?

Because I think we will someday be able to tell very quickly at birth what our chances of acquiring certain diseases will be like cancers, diabetes, depression, substance abuse, chances of living a long life  etc. based on our DNA.  Insurance companies are sure to want to have this information and would mark each person and inevitably influence our lives financially.

Who will stop them from using the fact that Huntington's Disease or schizophrenia runs in your family ... as a means of charging your family higher insurance rates?

If you get charged higher rates, your employer will be privy to that information if your employer pays or contributes to your health insurance plan. Which, unless you are self-employed, is generally the case these days. That info may then, in turn, affect your pay scale and/or length of your employment.

What's the difference between relegating "undesirables" to a lower standard of life and just outright exterminating them? Some might even tag the latter option as the more humane one...

...Of course there is that unfortunate precedent which happened just before World War II...

[Whooter]

I dont see any way that we can stop this from happening.  Eventually doctors will be able to perform gene therapy to correct many of these at birth. But until that time comes the insurance companies are surely to get their hands on that information. and use it against us.

There is no way to stop discrimination in the work place either.  If a person doesn't want to hire black, Hispanic or yellow people he just wont do it.  He wont say it openly.  They will just come up with a different reason.  I am sure PETA doesnt hire NRA card holders or people who hunt on weekends.  It would be against the law to fire you just because you wear a mink coat to work, but I think we all know you would not be employed there very long if you did this.  You would be bullied and harassed......... The only reason the hospital is stating the nicotine hiring ban openly is because they are going to test for it.



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