Posted by
Laura L. Hollis, JD on Friday, September 11, 2009 8:56:05 PM
This story, out of Indiana, is precisely what is wrong with our current insurance system ... and WHY GOVERNMENT-PROVIDED INSURANCE WILL BE WORSE.
The man's employer offered to pay for the surgery to address the back injury. But the employee is obese, and his doctor says he will have a much better prognosis on the back surgery if he loses weight. So now the employee is arguing that the company he works for should pay for his stomach-band surgery to lose weight as well. The employer disagrees, and an Indiana court has sided with the employee.
This demonstrates why it is critical to use the term "medical care" and not "health care" when discussing these issues. YOU are responsible for your HEALTH. And it is only when serious professional intervention is called for that insurance should kick in, for heavy-duty "medical care."
Because American culture "medicalizes" everything, we have come to believe that - unlike car insurance, home insurance, etc. -
everything associated with maintaining one's "health" should be insured. This is a prescription for bankruptcy.
If this Indiana man needs to lose weight, then he should LOSE it, and
then have the back surgery. His employer did not cause his obesity, and they should not be forced to pay for it.
Imagine what we will be looking at when a country where 30% of the population is obese starts claiming that they should be getting bariatric, or lap-band surgery, and the rest of us should pay for it.