contain them, companies are trying to encourage employees to take better care
of themselves, and some are even penalizing employees if they do not. One
company, AstraZeneca, increased employees’ health-insurance premium by $50 a
month for each month they failed to complete an online health-risk assessment
tool that asked for lifestyle details, then offered recommendations on ways
live a healthier lifestyle. In 2006, an internal Wal-Mart Stores Inc. memo was
leaked publicly that suggested that it cut its health-care costs by
discouraging unhealthy people from applying for jobs.
What do you think of businesses’ attempts to decrease health
care costs by helping employees to become healthier?
What are the ethical issues associated with a firm’s choice
to cut health care costs by eliminating people who are unhealthy?
What rights, duties, responsibilities, and consequences does
this strategy imply?
Do you think people who do not take care of themselves
should be responsible for their increased healthcare costs?
How would you feel personally if your past health conditions
and current health practices were a part of an employment application?
Apply the ethical decision making process to this situation
to determine whether this behavior is ethical or not.
What about firms that refuse to hire smokers? Or overweight
people?
Remember that in the case of the overweight person, refusing
to hire that individual could be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
