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Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 | 12:42 p.m.
John Ensign
WASHINGTON -- Republican Sen. John Ensign scored a victory in his pursuit of healthy lifestyle rewards with passage of his amendment to health care reform legislation that would offer deep discounts to those who quit smoking, lose weight or otherwise meet healthy milestones.
The Senate Finance Committee accepted Ensign’s amendment, co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Thomas Carper of Delaware, on a mostly bipartisan vote despite fierce opposition from the American Cancer Society and other public health groups who worry it would be punitive.
“Weight gain and unhealthy lifestyles that focus on smoking and lack of exercise have sky-rocketed our health care costs,” Ensign said in a statement after passage late Wednesday. “These costs could be lowered by focusing on what makes us healthy.”
Ensign is running a modest success rate as the committee moves through several of his 30 amendments.
Last week, the committee accepted his amendment to ensure that any savings from Medicare be retained for the Medicare program rather than diverted for other uses.
But the Republican senator has also suffered setbacks.
The committee rejected his attempt to block a proposed Medicaid expansion in Nevada and other states where the costs would exceed 1 percent of current costs for covering low-income residents.
The committee also rejected Ensign’s politically-tinged amendment to require any Obama administration health czar to withstand Senate confirmation – a Republican-led objection to the administration’s ability to skirt the confirmation process.
Today, Ensign came within one vote of passing an amendment that would have exempted fines for those who fail to get health insurance. Under the legislation, all Americans would be required to carry insurance – just as many states require drivers to have auto insurance. Those who don’t would face fines. Ensign’s amendment would have limited the fines only to those individuals earning above $200,000 annually.
The healthy lifestyles amendment passed on a vote 19-4, with a handful of Democrats opposed.
It would allow employers to offer steep discounts of up to 30 percent for workers who lead healthy lifestyles – with discounts of up to 50 percent allowed at the discretion of the Health and Human Services secretary.
Currently, employers can only offer discounts of up to 20 percent.
More than 30 groups, including the American Cancer Society, unions and public health organizations wrote two letters to the committee urging a no vote – saying the discounts would punish those who are unable to meet the milestones with higher insurance policies.
Ensign has vowed to offer a stronger amendment that would offer up to 50 percent discounts once the legislation moves to the Senate floor for debate.
What is a healthy lifestyle anyway? Don't drink, don't smoke, watch your weight, ... and stay out of casinos!!! So people who stay out of casinos should get a discount.
I'm a big believer in taking responsibility for your actions, so I like it when I hear Obama make those comments, and I really believe (hope) he means it. I personally don't understand what the problem is with implementing something like this. It doesn't seem like the people who would be negatively impacted are innocent victims, they're people that made a conscious decision to live a certain lifestyle. Just my take, but interested to hear from the opposing side (as long as it's not the ridiculous, ignorant, partisan insults that make up the majority of these comments). So putting aside the fact that this is coming from Ensign, what's the real concern here?
HAHA FATTIES GET TO PAY!!!
Will owning a handgun be considered 'healthy' or 'unhealthy'??
:confused:
I don't want my tax dollars to fund any healthcare program for people who deliberately place their health at risk by smoking, drinking or taking illicit drugs, or by being gluttons at the supper table. Fat drunks with a cigarette in their hand and a reefer in the other deserve to live in Red China in a concentration camp.
Do you think it's a healthy lifestyle to cheat on your wife with the wife of your good friend? I mean like mentally healthy.
Since when do Republicans think its OK to tell me how to live my life?
(well, thats what it would sound like if the tables were turned)
Hey is this not what Repubs call nanny state?
This is actually a common sense amendment, since there is plenty of scientific literature out there linking smoking and obesity to higher rates of heart disease, etc. which end up costing tons more on the back end. Providing incentives to live healthier could save a lot of money seems like most people don't like the person it's coming from rather than the substance of the amendment.
Looks like Ensign's been reading the comments and suggestions posted on health-care from this web-site.
Everything he's suggested has been already written in the comments section; by me and others, and also from e-mails and letters sent to Harry Reid (as I've done).
It's nothing brilliant - it's just common sense.
My father was an alcoholic; smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day, and died a dismal and miserable death, while my mother shouldered the bills that came in because of his 'vices'.
We had to all bail mom out with contributions just to save her home.
No person should have to watch their savings drain away at the same time their careless spouse (in my mom and dad's case), continues to abuse their bodies; my father kept smoking up until 2 weeks before he died.
Let the fatties pay those extra $$$$. Let the people who don't show common sense in caring for their well-being, pay for their unwillingness to adhere to sound health practices.
First obligation - care for yourself; don't expect to get the same insurance premium as the one who does take care of themselves, if you're pigging out on junk food; getting drunk 3 times a week, and puffing your cigarettes like a chimney.
The only reason health insurance premiums were (once) reasonably priced, is because people took better care of themselves, and only a smaller percentage were either frail; ailing with something they couldn't control, or just plain abusing their bodies.
The rising health-care costs show very clearly, that more and more are given to being over-weight; sadly, the clothing industry has even kept up with the 'trend', and if they'd never made 'tents' and baggy pants for the obese to wear, maybe those people would have slowed down in order to fit into clothes.
If junk food was priced so high few could afford it, maybe it never would have caught on.
If good food had been offered in our schools; in cafes - diners, restaurants and even in 'fast-food' places, it would have helped people 'control themselves'.
Instead, we have a food industry and restaurant industry that puts out fattening and unhealthy meals. We have a huge industry that makes money from people trying to lose weight. We've allowed all of this to tempt us, rather than to learn the basics of good exercise; good eating, and shown moderation in those things.
I think it's long past due to REWARD those of us who've kept our health, but still had to pay for health insurance - the costs would never have soared as high, if each person had made a best effort to maintain sound health.
Medical care is something different; medical care is available for us - thankfully we have hospitals; doctors and research that has given us an opportunity to cure diseases and extend life through a myriad of procedures that we all benefit from.
Health care is what we should be doing for ourselves............
who cares what that little maggot johnnie boy ensign has to say...
he is completely irrelevant...
he is a fraud...
a total and complete fraud...
this little maggot was granted every single advantage in life...
rode mommy and daddy's coat tails all the way to the us senate...
but that wasn't enough for this snot nosed punk...
he had to have his best friend's wife too...
and when he got caught he fired both of them...
just ruined their lives...
then...
then this little maggot went running to mommy and daddy to fix his boo boo...
all while a member of "the family" cult...
and a "promise keeper" to boot...
what a sad clown ensign is...
and by the way...
where the hell is the ethics investigation!!!
"Hey is this not what Repubs call nanny state?"
Nope this is reward for good work, pretty much a capitalistic way to look at it. You work hard at keeping yourself (not someone else doing it for you) healthy, you get rewarded by lower premiums. I know people will say what about pre-existing or at birth syndromes. That is not the fault of the individual, I understand, I am a type 1 diabetic, however, I also take good care of myself to lower my risk of Diabetic related problems. I actually do not mind paying a little more for premiums due to the fact that testing supplies and insulin would cost more out of pocket anyway if I went it alone. So to answer your question, No, it is not a nanny state, it is pay for performance. Take care of yourself, lower premium. Let yourself become a health nightmare, you pay more. Should be how it is anyway.
Yay, Sen Ensign just made an Amendment to make us pay bigger premiums for using salt!
way to stay focused on the issue being discussed, Birdiedreamin. You should be proud of yourself.
One of the best ways to assure a healthy lifestyle is to have parents who are rich enough to pay hush money to your mistress and her family.
afveteran posted; "I don't want my tax dollars to fund any healthcare program for people who deliberately place their health at risk by smoking, drinking or taking illicit drugs, or by being gluttons at the supper table. Fat drunks with a cigarette in their hand and a reefer in the other deserve to live in Red China in a concentration camp"
afveteran = a selfish, bigoted, holier-than-thou, mental midget with a gun who would love to return Auschwitz to full operating capacity and stoke the ovens with those mentioned above and any other imaginary villain that isn't as pure as him.
Remind me to chuckle the next time he proclaims he "fought for somebody's freedom."
WOW! This is funny. This will be the first time in history when fatties and smokers agree on something. What a voting block. GOODBYE CONGRESS!
"Weight gain and unhealthy lifestyles that focus on smoking and lack of exercise have sky-rocketed our health care costs,"...
Yeah and failing to stay monogomous while married isn't too good for your health either. Just sayin'.
Since when do Republicans think its OK to tell me how to live my life?
Um, constantly. They want to control aour every move.
Ensign is a sexual predator with no morals
If he was as true to the vows he made to his wife as he was to the vows he made to Reid he wouldn't be in trouble now.
afvet, gotta be an evangelical, hateful group of people, can't think for themselves/
Do you think this will stop at smokers, drinkers and overeaters? It's a slippery slope people, open your eyes!
How about lifestyles including, but not limited to: dirt biking, sky diving, ATVs, contact sports of any kind, motor racing (oh oh NASCAR), multiple partners (whether married or not), skiing, any sport or fun that could injure you and cause a lifetime of care because your brain is nothing more than mashed potatoes now. Should we just all sit in our houses and "exist"? Simply living your life is a freaking risk.
I'm tired of hearing how bad just a couple unhealthy lifestyles are when there is a whole list to choose from.
You will not need to worry about health problems the government is going to take care of everyone. We want have money to purchase many things much less groceries. Remember we still have the Cap and Trade.
It is not our place to demand citizens to do what the government or anyone else remember we are suppose to be a free country. Enjoy your freedom we might not have this luxury much longer not the way the government is mandating.
The liberals and ACLU will sue to remove from the bill if it becomes law. They will claim it is discrimination.
Well, all you folks that are harping about people who smoke make me sick. I can sit in my garage and smoke 3000 cigarettes with the garage door closed, and walk out.
However, if I turn my car engine on and close the door, I am dead in 2-3 minutes. Think about it, the air we breath is full of carbon monoxcide but it is dicipated in a larger area. Over time, you too could have cancer and let's not forget I thought we all had freedom of choice!! I guess not, seems like everyone these days want to judge everyone else. Give me a break. All you non smokers drive me crazy. By the way, I do smoke, and I have my own insurance, you are not paying a dime for me.
"...all you folks that are harping about people who smoke make me sick..."
No, it's all those ciggieboos you suck on that are making you sick. And all the non-smokers unfortunate enough to have the same insurance you have, are subsidizing your coverage. That's reality. You have a stupid habit and deserve all the grief that the rest of us can give you.
Ensign and LIFESTYLE rewards?
He is a known cheater and liar!
Stop spenging our money you cheating adulterer!
how about a big discount for "exercise": having sex with anyone in sight. And maybe another 20% discount if it's adultery with someone who medical insurance you are paying for, a real GROUP plan. Ensign should be forced to get real socialize medicine in prison.
ACORN = Democrats and vice versa...
And those on the left are so worried about Ensign's infidelity...