Florida Companies Get Strict On Employee Smoking

Florida Companies Get Strict On Employee Smoking in Group Health Insurance

We all know how unhealthy tobacco is, and we know that quitting smoking greatly reduces serious health risks. And we've seen the positive affect of banning smoking in restaurants and public places.

We also know smokers pay more for health insurance and spend much more on health care every year. Businesses also pay more in overall health care costs because of their smoking employees.

That’s why one Florida-based company, Westgate Resort, put in place a policy in 2003 that prohibits employees from smoking altogether.

Now after four years of the smoking ban, the company’s health insurance costs have stayed much lower than other firms, reported the Orlando Sentinel.

While only a couple companies around the U.S. have banned smoking for employees outright, others penalize their workers for the habit. Some businesses are charging employees as much as $100 more a month for health insurance.

The surprise is that many people won’t quit smoking because it’s unhealthy, they only quit for financial reasons.

“We’ve known for a long time that smoking is hazardous to health, and people are still smoking. Education hasn’t worked, cessation programs haven’t worked. You have to make the individual pay for the bad habit.” Becky Cherney, president of the Florida Health Care Coalition.

“People stop for monetary reasons. Why isn’t health enough of a reason?” asked the chief executive of Westgate, David Siegel.

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