Boeing does the same thing, but the company itself is not allowed to have the information, it is supposedly kept private by the third party company that does the health information survey.

Union employees are not even required to get things tested. But the poor sots in South Carolina ARE.

I have a sudden urge to start smoking.

Soooo Protected Health Information (PHI), previosly sacrosanct because of another democrat initiative (HIPPA), is kicked to the side in order to do what? Determine who gets fired for being a risk and who gets to keep a job until their health condition becomes problematic. I would say stuff it and pay the 50 bucks because CVS will most likely decide to limit hours to avoid providing insuarance anyway.

So the penalty is for not divulging the info, not for being unhealthy?

What happens if you comply and give your info and they think you're too fat?
Will companies stop hiring fat people, diabetic people, smokers? And why these health bugaboos? What about risky sexual behavior or smoking pot? This may turn into a real slippery slope.

That's the same way my company works. You take a health survey and complete activities and you're rewarded with cheaper premiums. It's all about the wording. You could say that employees who take a health screen and complete healthy activities are rewarded with discounted premiums. Or you could say that employees that don't comply with health screens and activities are penalized with higher rates.

My last two employers (Pharmaceutical companies) have done this. The company doesn't see your medical information. It's on your WebMD account. And you don't even have to prove you stopped smoking. You just say you did and no one knows otherwise, but they will offer you guidance on how to stop if you want.

Great program, in my opinion. Yearly bloodwork for free for people who wouldn't otherwise get it done might catch things like high cholesterol, BP, diabetes, and other things before it's a serious problem. (show less)

I'm not really clear if it's Obamacare that's forcing CVS to implement this or if CVS is doing this on their own to cut costs.
The upshot is, as it has always been, whoever's paying the fiddler calls the tune. Private employers and health insurance have strong incentives not to coerce employees/customers into preferred behavior. The government has strong incentives to make preferred behavior mandatory and no disincentives.

They pay the price because the smokers, the obese, those who have high cholesterol are at higher risk of diabetes, cancer,... Their health risks are higher, their insurance premiums should be higher. Many employers have already asked for those info.

CVS should say those who provide them the information would get a $50 discount, just like those perpetual discounts in Macy's.

Yes. They say that women consume the great majority of hwealthcare dollars. It is not true. Fat people do. Arthritis bothering you? Shed some weight. High blood pressure? Lose 50 pounds. Type II diabetes? Shed 100 pounds. Heart problems? Lose some weight. Very little of our healthcare dollars go to congenital problems.

America eats like pigs, drinks like fish (ahem), and smokes like chimneys. We put all kinds of poisons into our bodies in the form of recreational drugs, which is insane. We do not exercise enough, not even the chjildren. Child obesity is a huge problem. You must hate your kids, if you let them get to be so fat, because they will have a sickly, greatly shortened life.

Then, we want to have all the sex we can have, without consequences, so STD's are rampant. fully half the sexually active adults in this ountry have herpes. If you leave out the portion of the populace which saved it for marriage and never stray, then a great majority of the people you're looking to hook up with have herpes. Sexy! We have AIDS, primarily promulgated by gays and drug abusers. Syphilis and gonorrhea are both making comebacks, especially gonorrhea, some strains of which are resistant to almost every anitbiotic. Soon it will be incurable again. Really sexy!

So, we engage in all this sinning and reap the consequences. So, we go to the doctor seeking some magic bullet to ameliorate the consequences, so we can go on sinning, rather than cutting back on sin. Then, we have the temerity to complain about the cost of the magic bullet! Geez!

Hey, you want more affordable healthcare? How about some sweat equity? Hit the gym, Fatso, and work up a sweat! Do not ask me to pay for the consequences of your sins, because I did not do the sinning. Pay for your own damned sins, and quit whining about the price!

It's a free country, but if you abuse your freedoms, they will get taken from you. Lose some weight voluntarily, or expect the government to take some action you will not like. (show less)

Walgreen's does something similar, but it's all carrot and no stick. So it's slightly better. For now.

CVS can set a higher base premium (X+50), and perform a miracle to turn stick (pay $50 more without info) to carrot (pay $50 less with info).