Our View - Friday

Smokers should pay

An easy step to health care reform

Adults have the right to smoke. Suck down that flavorful tar and nicotine and enjoy the rush. But should smokers, who willingly diminish their health and longevity, be guaranteed the same price for health insurance that nonsmokers pay?

No. It’s a ridiculous notion.

Consider two drivers. One is Bob, a 22-year-old drunkard with traffic tickets and a muscle car. The other is John, a middle-aged accountant with a boring life, a mid-sized sedan and a perfect driving record.

Imagine if a federal law forced insurers to give Bob and John identical rates for auto insurance, even with knowledge that Bob gets drunk and drives fast. Such a law would be ignorant and unfair. It would force private contracts that reward dangerous scofflaws with artificially low rates. The scofflaw rates would come at the expense of safe drivers, like John, who pose minimal risk to the insurance pool and deserve low rates. The law would serve as public policy designed to encourage danger, while discouraging safety.

Anyone who has purchased auto insurance knows it doesn’t work that way. Insurance companies learn about a potential customer in advance of closing a deal, assess the cost of assuming the customer’s risks, and then quote a premium that corresponds to the risk. Those with common sense can see that the system lowers costs by placing the burdens of risk squarely where they belong. It punishes dangerous behavior and rewards safe behavior, thus enhancing public safety by exploiting the science of free market economics.

Unfortunately, health insurance doesn’t work that way. Those who buy group health insurance, and try to minimize any chance that they’ll actually need it, aren’t rewarded the way safe drivers are. Insurance customers who don’t smoke, don’t food binge, and keep their weight and blood pressure in check are charged the same rates as those who smoke and drink and wallow in junk food. It forces healthy folks to subsidize slobs, which means their insurance is more burden than bargain.

William Lindsay, president of benefits for Lockton Companies, LLC, served on Colorado’s Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform. The commission made a ridiculous recommendation to the Colorado Legislature on Thursday, asking for a law that would force all Colorado residents to buy health insurance.

Despite the commission’s proposal, in their research, Lindsay and other members came up with some good ideas for lowering health care costs and encouraging better health. One such idea included allowing group insurers to offer lower rates to customers who don’t smoke, or who give up smoking.

Great idea, but it can’t be done.

Ed Fensholt, director of compliance services for Lockton Benefit Group, said federal law prohibits group providers from charging higher premiums based on “health status factors.” Smoking, he said, is considered a health status factor. The Blue Ribbon Commission is drafting a letter to the Colorado congressional delegation, asking members to investigate deregulation of this matter.

Smoking is not a “health status factor.” It’s a chosen activity that greatly increases health risks and increases consumption of health care services — a limited and diminishing commodity. Yes, we realize nicotine is a highly addictive substance, but using it remains a choice.

Through deregulation, allowing insurers to assess consumers for voluntary risky behavior — such as smoking and compulsive high-altitude tightrope juggling — insurance costs would come down for those who choose to avoid obvious risks. Societal health could improve because of financial rewards for healthy living, which would lower the overall consumption of health care. This would be achieved with fewer laws, not more. Let insurance companies and consumers work things out, absent goofy federal mandates, and costs will come down. Even the Blue Ribbon Commission on Thou Shalt Buy Health Care agrees.

A voice silenced

The Pikes Peak region lost a powerful voice last week with the passing of Kathy Verlo. The former Manitou Springs City Council member was not afraid to speak her mind about issues from gambling in the town or development of open space. But perhaps more important than her time in official politics was her community involvement.

In a news report in Tuesday’s Gazette, her son, Eric, said, “She’d been active in the community where she saw a need. She was always answering phone calls and talking to people. I don’t know where she found all that time.”

We rarely saw eye-to-eye with Verlo in issues, but we could always count on her arguments to be reasoned and logical. While some who write letters to the editor disagreeing with our positions resort to name-calling and character assassination, her responses were always civil, and she confined herself to debating the merits of the issues.

Her willingness to get involved and defend her causes against all comers are the hallmarks of an active, engaged citizen. It’s people such as Verlo who make governments sit up and take notice. Those people will continue to fight as long as they have a chance to be heard. They are the natural descendents of the Founding Fathers in that they are willing to fight for their beliefs.

Kathy Verlo’s passing leaves a void in our community and we’ll miss her passionate defense of her beliefs.

A memorial service will be held today at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 2021 W. Pikes Peak Ave. at 3 p.m.