Should Overweight Employee Be Penalized Coursework

Should Overweight Employee Be Penalized - Coursework Example We live in a modern society that provides us with more than ample means of living a healthy lifestyle through the proper nutrition intake, diet, and exercise. However, most people fail to take advantage of these basic opportunities presented to them. The result is a weakened state of health for the individual. As such, the individual ends up requiring much more healthcare than his insurance program can provide. Added to this problem is the fact that the new health care laws of the United States has made it more difficult and expensive for the employers to keep their employees covered with ample medical insurance benefits. The continued rising cost of healthcare coverage has thus forced some employers to take the health matters of their employees in their own hands by forcing them to participate in a company mandated healthcare program or face severe penalties for non-participation. Their intention is clear, to keep their health care costs down, but at the expense of sticking their no ses in where it does not belong, in the private lives of their employees. Their participate or pay fines choice disrespects the freedom of an individual to choose how he lives his life and how he participates in various activities. It would appear that an increasing number of companies are opting for such health care rider coverage for their employees. As many as; â€Å"almost half (47%) of companies already use or plan to use financial penalties over the next three to five years on workers who don’t take part in health-improvement programs.†