Affordable Health Care Act: Ethical Or Unethical?

Let’s start out by creating a scene of a family of four siblings; Michael, Anthony, Trevor, and Jacob Smith. They have recently been involved in a car accident and all four brothers were rushed to the hospital for the same injuries, a concussion along with bruised ribs and broken arms. Assuming they all receive healthcare from the same provider, all of their bills vary in prices. Why is that? Well, there are other things to be considered that make providers charge more. Michael, the eldest son, lives and breathes healthy. Anthony smokes one to two packs of cigarettes every week. Trevor has gained an abnormal amount of weight after adolescence, with an increase in his Body Mass Index. Also, the youngest, Kevin, had received an inherited medical
On average obese employees pay higher health premiums and receive a higher out-of-pocket cost, increasing about $1000 (Christianson). This process of increasing the premium of someone who is obese is quite unethical in my eyes. I believe it to be unethical because for many who are obese, it normally runs in the family or they acquired it over past years, but it is a hard process to lower a person’s BMI to a level where they are not considered obese. Raising prices on someone who cannot really control their body is nowhere near being ethical, because of this Anthony’s hospital deductible will see an increase in amount and his out-of-pocket pay would raise
This holds true because in 2008 George W. Bush signed the GINA Act, which is the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. This act protects Americans from receiving discrimination from employers and health providers because of the genetics they have received from family traits. Pre-2008 it was quite common to see people with inherited conditions that pay, on average, a higher premium than an average healthy person. Post-2008, those with any type of genetic condition receives the same treatment as a normal everyday person would, given that they don’t partake in any actions that could harm their well-being. So, for Jacob and his expenses, they should come out to being close to Michaels