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Oct
5
If there were politics in the least involved in this case, believe me, I would love to post it on Wide Open. But I really can’t stretch it – there just isn’t anything related remotely – yet (if there are any lawsuits filed, particularly in state court…)
So – Plain Dealer – what’s the story morning glory on the Cleveland Clinic’s new nicotine-testing program for applicants? It started September 1. I cannot find a single article about how it’s going.
But what I have found so far are articles that suggest the Clinic’s move has zero to do with the work environment and everything to do with decreasing the provision of health care for employees.
“Employers are trying to thin out their health-care costs, by any means necessary,” said Jeremy Gruber, legal director for the National Workrights Institute of Princeton, N.J. “We’re only seeing the beginning of this. Employers started with smokers. Now they’re moving on to the general population.”
From an article titled, “Corporations shedding health care obligations”:
These corporate strategies aim to limit the cost of providing employee health care by eliminating workers with health risks — the workers who would most likely benefit from health care coverage.
This creates a vicious cycle: got a health risk, can’t get a job because you don’t pass risk screening, can’t get health insurance because you don’t have a job, don’t have insurance that enables you to get medical care to mitigate your risk.
[Think SCHIP while you're at it - but I'll just link to Jeff's post here at Wide Open and, to be fair to our co-blogger, Dave, here's his lastest on the same topic.]
What’s the Clinic have to say about the program, especially to people who view their website in search of a job?
Nothing. Not a word, not a button, not a link. Not that I could find. You?
So why is this absence of stories important to note, besides the fact that it would be a nice follow up on the July announcement that starting September 1, prospective employees will be tested for nicotine? Why am I not just indicting everyone for omitting coverage or follow-up on this topic?
Because of PD publisher Terry Egger being on the Clinic board. That’s why.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:04 pm October 5th, 2007 in Business, Cleveland+, Marketing, Media, Ohio
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[...] Jill Miller Zimon wrote a fantastic post today on “Plain Dealer mum on progress of Clinic’s applicant nicotine testing”Here’s ONLY a quick extractThis creates a vicious cycle: got a health risk, can’t get a job because you don’t pass risk screening, can’t get health insurance because you don’t have a job, don’t have insurance that enables you to get medical care to mitigate your … [...]