Maryann Tobin writes:
If America needed any more evidence that the health insurance industry has taken over the US economy, one only need look as far as a small city in Florida. The Mayor there wants to fire employees who use tobacco in the privacy of their own homes, so the city can get a better rate on their group health insurance policy.
Brooksville Mayor Lara Bradburn said, “Eliminating tobacco use would help decrease city insurance rates — at cost savings to taxpayers.”
What makes this significant is – what happens in Florida does not always stay in Florida.
Apart from the possibility that Constitutional rights to privacy may be violated, the concept of regulating the personal habits of individuals when away from their workplace, under threat of their livelihood, may change the standards of how far any government entity or employer can go to achieve control of personal freedom.
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