The impact of smokers on health costs

When you hire your employees you assume that they are going to be assets to your company, so how would you feel if in hiring an employee, you would actually have the need to pay more for insurance down the road?When you hire a smoker that is exactly what you are doing.The impact of smokers on health costs can be significant to a number of different parties.The smoker sees the negative impact of his habit in the form of poor personal health.Co-workers are negatively impacted when they are exposed to secondhand smoke.Employers are negatively impacted by smokers when the cost of premiums increase due to the more frequent and severe medical needs of the smokers under their employment.Smokers spell bad news for companies looking to reduce their healthcare expenses.In fact, the increase in estimated medical costs for businesses that employ smokers is $1,600 per smoker annually.What is even more disturbing is that it is costing you a great deal more than just health care costs when you employ a smoker.For example, employees who take three 10-minute smoking breaks a day are spending 15 eight-hour days of paid company time a year away from the job to smoke.

The evidence to support the fact that there is an obvious negative effect when it comes to smokers and health care costs is apparent, but what options do employers have to remedy their situation?Some employers perceive the health costs as significant enough to warrant not hiring or firing individuals who smoke.While this seems like the most direct way to solve the problem, it is most often met with questions of legality and accusations of discrimination, both of which may actually have more of a negative effect on the business than the increase in health care costs.Instead, what most employers decide to do is to instigate a series of policies designed to make smoking safer for non-smoking employees and to provide motivation for smoking employees to quit.The last policy that is implemented when trying to motivate as many smokers as possible to quit is to implement a smoke-free workplace policy.By having a policy already in place that states that your business is one that values a safe and healthy environment for all employees, not only can you negotiate with the health insurance company to pay lower premium costs, but you will also increase the number of people who try to quit smoking in order to secure their position at your place of business.

There are many benefits to an employer if they choose to instigate a smoking cessation program.Smoking cessation programs are programs designed to help the smoker through the different challenges that they are presented with as they try to kick the habit.The employer is able to see increased productivity if an employee is able to complete the cessation program successfully because the employee now has the ability to spend more time at work and less time on smoking breaks.However, the resulting benefits of smoking cessation programs can be a long time coming as addiction to nicotine is a very powerful thing.

In summary, smokers have higher medical costs because they are sick more often.Smokers will experience difficult side effects of withdrawal as a result of fighting their addiction.The employer should be aware that smokers who quit smoking because of an acute health problem may actually see their medical costs increase in the first year or two because of side effects related to the addition.During this time it is important for employers to be sensitive and encouraging as it takes a fair amount of time for smokers to recover from their addiction.