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State Debate: Weigh more, pay more? Good idea

An 8/26 roundup of editorials in state papers

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  8/26/2008 9:51 am

Weigh more, pay more? Good idea, says the Beloit Daily News.

If you work for the state of Alabama and you choose an unhealthy lifestyle, your paycheck may be growing smaller by the month.

That's because Alabama officials have decided the cost of providing health care benefits must be brought under closer control, and one way to do it is to pressure employees to make better choices.

First, officials added a charge for smokers, about $25 a month.

And now the state is telling its nearly 40,000 employees there will be a penalty -- another $25 -- for being grossly obese. Based on body mass index, employees who do not show progress toward getting fit will be charged extra. Call it the weigh more, pay more plan.

Is that fair? Is it discriminatory against big people? We'd say yes. And yes.

If unhealthy choices increase costs and push insurance premiums up for everyone, why shouldn't those who cause the situation pay a bigger share?

It happens with automobile insurance -- teenagers are charged more because the statistics prove they have more accidents. The principle and the practice are clear when applied to other forms of insurance.

Illinois and Wisconsin officials ought to think about this.

House campaigns headed in wrong direction, says the Appleton Post-Crescent.

When the race for the state's 8th Congressional District began -- at least unofficially -- we implored Rep. Steve Kagen and challenger John Gard not to repeat the campaign ad slugfest they had two years ago.

Though the candidates are really just getting started with their campaigns and we're nowhere near the 2006 level yet, both are headed in the wrong direction.

Kagen claims Bush adviser Karl Rove had Kagen at the top of his hit list, but nobody can seem to confirm that.

A Gard ad attempts to tie the high cost of gas to Kagen's votes against expanded oil drilling. That's a pretty big reach.

There figures to be enough legitimate differences between Kagen and Gard that they don't need to make them more dramatic than they are. Credibility counts too.

Put mental health high on UW list, says the Racine Journal Times.

As state government grapples in the next few months with the budget for the University of Wisconsin System, we hope that mental health counseling is not forgotten in a process which will almost certainly produce monetary pain for all arms of the state.

Demand for counseling has been growing for years, even before the importance of student mental health was underlined by shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. National surveys done at the beginning of the decade found almost half of students saying they were so depressed they could barely function, and not quite 10 percent had seriously considered suicide.

Within the UW System's four-year campuses, the percentage of students receiving counseling services ranges from a high of 9 percent in Madison to a low of 3.2 percent in Milwaukee.

Couple the expected increases with a student population containing some troubled veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the university system is looking at a probable increase in demand for counseling.

Charging for missed appointments, using counselor interns and more group therapy, and outsourcing some counseling -- all recommendations with the report -- are good ideas. Limiting visits isn't.

Compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  8/26/2008 9:51 am