MSNBC is reporting some missing pieces to the recently passed health-care bill's puzzle...

the loop hole built into the current health-care proposal is actually going to allow cost penalties placed on those who won't conform to a higher standard of health living... eating, drinking, smoking habits, overweight problems... are going to be fined.

In other words, the health industry and the federal government are going to have the authority to penalize people not just on the basis of their actual health conditions, but also on the basis of their lifestyles.... and if one doesn't conform and change one's lifestyle... they are going to be fined... and if they don't pay the fine... they are going to be locked up in a jail...

Interesting.

msnbc

MSNBC report

Get in shape or pay a price.

That's a message more Americans could hear if the health care reform bills passed by the Senate Finance and Health committees become law.

By more than doubling the maximum rewards and penalties that companies can apply to employees who flunk medical evaluations, the bills could put workers under intense financial pressure to lose weight, stop smoking or even lower their cholesterol.

The initiative, largely eclipsed in the health care debate, builds on a trend that is already in play among some corporations and that more workers will see in the packages they bring home during this month's open enrollment. Some employers offer lower premiums to people who complete personal health assessments; others offer only limited benefit packages to smokers.

The current legislative effort takes the trend a step further. It is backed by major employer groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. It is opposed by labor unions and groups devoted to combating serious illnesses, such as the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Diabetes Association.

A colossal loophole?
President Obama and members of Congress have declared that they are trying to create a system in which no one can be denied coverage or charged higher premiums based on their health status. The health insurance lobby has said it shares that goal. However, so-called wellness incentives could introduce a colossal loophole. In effect, they would permit insurers and employers to make coverage less affordable for people exhibiting risk factors for problems like diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

"Everybody said that we're going to be ending discrimination based on preexisting conditions. But this is in effect discrimination again based on preexisting conditions," said Ann Kempski of the Service Employees International Union. ...

National epidemic of obesity

The incentives could attack a national epidemic of obesity. They also cut to a philosophical core of the health care debate. Should health insurance be like auto insurance, in which good drivers earn discounts and reckless ones pay a price, thereby encouraging better habits? Or should it be a safety net in which the young and healthy support the old and sick with the understanding that youth and good health are transitory?

Under current regulation, incentives based on health factors can be no larger than 20 percent of the premium paid by employer and employee combined. The legislation passed by the Health and Finance committees would increase the limit to 30 percent, and it would give government officials the power to raise it to 50 percent.

Sooo... people are going to be forced by law into a system that is going to dictate how they live or they will be fined... and if they don't pay the fine they are going to jail.

This is health care reform... get in shape or go to jail.

(PS... MSNBC is no right winged political news organization)

xtnyoda, shalomed