Hospital to charge employees who smoke

realnursealso/LPN, LPN · Jun 23, 2007

Note to self.............never move to Indiana:rotfl:

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Jun 23, 2007

I can see it now... instead of getting a paycheck, they would be handing me a bill for allowing me to be employed w/ them. I gotta get out of this state!:trout:

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Jun 23, 2007

I can see it now... instead of getting a paycheck, they would be handing me a bill for allowing me to be employed w/ them. I gotta get out of this state!:trout:

No kidding! Dear goodness........ :uhoh3:

suzy253, RN · Jun 23, 2007

These folks will be charged five dollars per paycheck. In 2009 employees will submit to cholesterol, weight, and b/p checks, if they have "issues" in these areas they will pay as well.
http://www.theindychannel.com/station/13556088/detail.html

:uhoh3: :trout:

justme1972 · Jun 23, 2007

Great way to run your good employees off.

The scary thing...is that some group of idiots sat around a meeting table and said, "Yeah! Yeah! Let's roll with the program!"

WSU_Ally_RN, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2007

As if the nursing shortage isn't bad enough, because you have HTN or are overweight or smoke, they are going to charge you??? That is ridiculous!! I can see many people leaving quickly...

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2007

Where I work there will be no smoking on campus after July 1. There is free quit smoking counseling and medical aids for 3 months for all employees. Smoking on campus after July 1 will be first a fine then you could be fired.

TazziRN, RN · Jun 23, 2007

Okay.....I am anti smoking but I would not take away someone's right to choose to smoke. This is a bit much......no, it's a lot much!!! Hospitals do not have the right to dictate what an employee does on his/her own time.

TazziRN, RN · Jun 23, 2007

Where I work there will be no smoking on campus after July 1. There is free quit smoking counseling and medical aids for 3 months for all employees. Smoking on campus after July 1 will be first a fine then you could be fired.

But that is not the same as charging someone for smoking, or having HTN, etc. The hospital has the right to forbid anyone from smoking on campus but they do not have the right to forbid it at all.

And fining someone for being hypertensive/overweight/etc is way out of line.

glasgow3 · Jun 23, 2007

If ever person needed evidence that our employer based health insurance system needs to be abolished and that today's employees need to organize---well, here it is!!!

As usual, one would think that so called not-for- profit Clarian is holding on for its financial life; these employee health care costs are going threw the roof, they complain. But who exactly is it that is driving these costs upwards? Why it's hospitals like Clarian, who, with the assistance of taxpayers have amassed literally billions of dollars by blatant price gouging.

Now before all of you corporate folk stick up for Clarian and their insistance upon access to medical information in order to remain employed......what is going to stop such employers from requiring you to take any number of tests predictive of a costly disease which exists now or just around the corner------and then firing you on the spot to avoid the cost of treating you? Awwwww...but these folks would never do such a thing, would they?

Jolie, BSN · Jun 23, 2007

I sincerely hope that this hospital experiences a huge backlash against this practice.

If they get away with it, employees ought to expect more categories of risk factors to be added to the list, including other legal activities such as alcohol consumption, skydiving, motor-cycle riding, travel to foreign countires, sunbathing, etc. They have started with smoking, high-cholesterol, and/or overweight employees simply because it is still somewhat "politically correct" to bash these people for their "weaknesses". That sickens me. Have these supposed healthcare providers not considered that there are some aspects of these risk factors that are out of the employees' control? Ever heard of familial high cholesterol? Hormonal and metabolic disorders? Can you imagine the hue and cry if they tested for a breast-cancer gene, and then charged those employees a weekly fee?