A bold ban on hiring smokers

 Health care providers are all about preventing smoking but Baylor Health Care System is taking actual steps. An article from the Dallas Morning News Newspaper announces that starting January 1, Baylor will no longer fire smokers at its North Texas facilities. They have pushed a stop-smoking program for staff members, and current employees. This idea for a ban in hiring smokers has been the most controversial step that Baylor has taken. Some of the questions being asked are why are smokers being targeted? Why would Baylor not want smokers but they will hire obese applicants?

Last year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that half of all long-term smokers, especially those who started as adolescents, will eventually die from their tobacco use. The use of tobacco is the leading cause of death in the country that can be prevented. Dr. Donald Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services focused on that point during an interview. He stated that persuading people to stop smoking is a top priority of federal campaign to empower Americans to make lifestyle changes to prevent disease from taking affect.

Baylor is not the only institution in putting this "no smokers" hiring policy. Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio have already done this same thing with minimal negative response and no lawsuits so far. This article states a good point saying that we are pretty much all talk when it comes to how important preventive health care is, but when it comes down to it, we are quick to put convenience or political correctness ahead of the hard choices that true health care requires.

The article provides the audience some facts and statistics about smoking; Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 443,000 American lives every year. For every person who dies, 20 more people suffer from at least one serious smoking-related illness. Smoking cost the United States more than $193 billion in 2004, including $97 billion in lost productivity and $96 billion in direct health expenses. If you do the math, that's $4,260 per adult smoker. A few diseases caused by smoking include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary heart disease, stroke, cataract, etc.

I think everyone should read this because if this idea of smokers not being able to be employed becomes more popular, then people need to know in advance so they can determine what action they want to take. Either quit smoking, or have a hard time getting a job. The intended audience is probably the Baylor students and faculty members, as well as anyone applying to work with Baylor University. Dr. Donald Berwick is credible because he is head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He believes that we should do everything we can to prevent people from smoking. I do agree with him because I am not a huge fan of smoking to begin with. There are many reasons why I think this idea of banning smoking in the work place is a good idea. Let's talk about faculty members working for any school; the rule is that you have to be a certain distance away from the school in order to smoke. I know of a teacher that has to get in her car and drive around the neighborhood in order to get her smoke in which could potentially lead to loss of productivity because smokers are taking frequent "smoke breaks." When that teacher comes back to work, unless they know how to get the stench out, they probably smell like smoke which looks very unprofessional, especially for a school. Now let's talk about the money side of the situation. The insurance rates for people who smoke are much higher than those who do not because they are at a higher risk. The article did not specify but that may be another reason why Baylor wants to eliminate employees who smoke. Maybe they wanted to lower their insurance rates. Looking at the other side, people do have the right to do whatever they want and as my boyfriend has said, "people don't like someone telling them what they can and cannot do, especially when it comes to smoking or drinking. Doing so could open a huge can of worms." My last thought is, if you smoke and you know that whatever job you are applying for isn't going to allow people who smoke to work for them then why did you apply there? Go somewhere else.