Posted: Jan 07, 2015 10:15 pm
Scot Dutchy wrote:laklak wrote:Already does here. They'll load your premium based on what you do in your free time. Scuba diving, skydiving, rock climbing, driving race cars, flying a small aircraft, all those will increase your cost. Your habits cost you, too. You'll pay a lot more if you're a smoker, for example, and your BMI is part of the premium calculation.
I don't know why this would be unacceptable, the same thing happens with every other form of insurance. A Ferrari costs a shitload more to insure than a Sentra, a big home costs more to insure than a small flat. It's considered perfectly normal to charge someone more for health insurance if they're older, so why not if they're overweight or engage in a risky hobby?
I agree that life style should be part of formula for calculating insurance costs. If somebody wants to be a dare devil that's up him/her but their insurance should reflect it. The same if somebody weighs 200 kg. and thinks it is normal that should be also reflected in the insurance costs.
Sounds good in theory, but in reality it means that poorer people (who are far more likely to be obese) are going to get hit with increased premiums, while richer people get lower premiums, further increasing inequality, which is one of the major causes of obesity in the first place. Insurance doesn't actually make judgments about blame. I'd pay more for insurance if I'd had a serious condition, regardless of whether I caused the condition myself. And with obesity, many people are obese long before they can reasonably be considered responsible for their actions.