Any Alabama state employees here? Better get to work on that diet...

[SDGuy]

"Beginning in 2010, Alabama, which has the second highest obesity rate in the country, will start charging all of its employees an extra $25 per month for health insurance. (Currently, single workers pay nothing; family plans cost $180 a month.)
But there's a way to avoid the fee: Get a check-up at an in-office "wellness center," where nurses will check for diabetes and hypertension and measure blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels and Body Mass Index (BMI)....Alabama is using a BMI threshold of 35...to determine who doesn't have to pay the automatic $25 deduction."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_...laces.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,414861,00.html

Some thresholds for various heights:
5': 179 lbs
5'5": 210.5 lbs
5'10": 244 lbs
6': 258 lbs

http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

I'd hope they would take muscle mass vs. body fat into account when doing this. There may be some bodybuilders amongst the state employee population.

[davester]

5"10" and 210 lbs? Those are pretty lax standards.

[Will Collier]

I grew up in Alabama. Trust me, that's going to be the biggest revenue enhancement in state history.

[ztirffritz]

By there standards...I'm downright fit and healthy! I guess I'll ditch that plan to lose 30 lbs...

[DaviDC.]

They'd better apply this to those fat-asses that sit in the state legislature as well.

[kanesa]

They better start applying this fee to smokers, alcoholics, drug users, etc. and not just single out the obese.

Or maybe we need to stop tying health insurance with employment. Providing good health insurance to employees is breaking the banks of public and private employers.

[rgG]

Or maybe we need to stop tying health insurance with employment

Without making this political and getting it moved, that is definitely what needs to happen.

[AlphaDog]

[quote kanesa]They better start applying this fee to smokers, alcoholics, drug users, etc. and not just single out the obese.
They snagged smokers a while back: "The state already charges smokers a $24 per month surcharge (which will increase to $25 next month)."

[beerman]

Being under the bmi for obesity isn't the same as saying you are fit. There's still the overweight category before you get tagged as normal. I'm solidly in the obese category btw. 5'10" and 230 pounds.