Wellness my ASS!
So I got a letter in the mail yesterday from Ardent (my employer) about next years health insurance. It's a new program to get my damn discounts called Bravo Wellness. So a little bit of background, before I started work at SED, they got their health insurance free but of course that didn't last. So when I started, you got a discount for being a non-smoker. Fine. Then last year we had to jump through some hoops to get our discount. We had to go to a health fair and get our BP, weight, etc plus a blood draw for glucose and cholesterol. Fine, they didn't have to be any particular number. We also had to fill out a health questionnaire online. No biggy.
So this year it's more of the same but a little different too.
"It pays to participate. If you complete a health screening, you will receive a credit of $160 per month to help offset medical plan rate increases in 2010."
Ok, so pretty much the same as last year.
"You earn rewards for good health. For each area in which your test results fall within the target ranges, you will receive a wellness point. Each wellness point equals a $10 per month discount on your medical premium. If you are in the healthy range for all five tests, you will earn a $50 discount and you will see a decrease in your rates for 2010. If you are in the health ranges for four out of five tests, you will see little or no increase in your rates."
Excuse me?
So what are the five tests?
So my glucose and cholesterol are fine. My blood pressure is actually going down thanks to my CPAP and I'm not a smoker. But the BMI is a bunch of bullshit. Now I know I am overweight, don't get me wrong. I'm a fat girl. Oh well. According to the table, I should weigh between 114 and 144. I haven't weighed that since I don't even remember when. When I weighed 180 my senior year of high school, I had a great figure. Of course at the time everyone told me I was fat so I thought I was but looking back, I was a little hottie. But anyway.
From www.wikipedia.org
"The body mass index (BMI), or Quetelet index, is a controversial statistical measurement which compares a person's weight and height. Though it does not actually measure the percentage of body fat, it may be a useful tool to estimate a healthy body weight based on how tall a person is. Due to its ease of measurement and calculation, it is the most widely used diagnostic tool to identify weight problems within a population, usually whether individuals are underweight, overweight or obese. It was invented between 1830 and 1850 by the BelgianpolymathAdolphe Quetelet during the course of developing "social physics"."
Ok, hold up. It says it does not actually measure the percentage of body fat. And who the hell is Adolphe Quetelet this anyway?
"Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quételet (22 February 1796 - 17 February 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist."
I don't see anything about medicine in there. Or even biology. What the fuck did he know about body fat or the human body?
"Some argue that the error in the BMI is significant and so pervasive that it is not generally useful in evaluation of health.[13][14] University of Chicago political science professor Eric Oliver says BMI is an inaccurate measure of weight and that academics and doctors have taken the easy way out and that at a minimum the standards of who is overweight and who is not need to be changed and that the US population has been forced to fit into these standards.[15]"
Gee, doctors taking the easy way out. Who would have guessed? Damn straight it needs to change!
"Because the BMI is dependent only upon weight and height, it makes simplistic assumptions about distribution of muscle and bone mass, and thus may overestimate adiposity on those with more lean body mass (e.g. athletes) while underestimating adiposity on those with less lean body mass (e.g. the elderly)."
"A 2005 study in America showed that overweight people actually had a lower death rate than normal weight people as defined by BMI.[17]"
So, I just really had to get that off my chest. And of course, we all have to jump through these hoops because we can hardly afford our insurance as it is.
Anyone from work reading this, better get to www.bravohealth.com/ardent before August 26th or you're screwed!
So this year it's more of the same but a little different too.
"It pays to participate. If you complete a health screening, you will receive a credit of $160 per month to help offset medical plan rate increases in 2010."
Ok, so pretty much the same as last year.
"You earn rewards for good health. For each area in which your test results fall within the target ranges, you will receive a wellness point. Each wellness point equals a $10 per month discount on your medical premium. If you are in the healthy range for all five tests, you will earn a $50 discount and you will see a decrease in your rates for 2010. If you are in the health ranges for four out of five tests, you will see little or no increase in your rates."
Excuse me?
So what are the five tests?
- blood pressure
- blood glucose
- cholesterol
- BMI
- tobacco use
So my glucose and cholesterol are fine. My blood pressure is actually going down thanks to my CPAP and I'm not a smoker. But the BMI is a bunch of bullshit. Now I know I am overweight, don't get me wrong. I'm a fat girl. Oh well. According to the table, I should weigh between 114 and 144. I haven't weighed that since I don't even remember when. When I weighed 180 my senior year of high school, I had a great figure. Of course at the time everyone told me I was fat so I thought I was but looking back, I was a little hottie. But anyway.
From www.wikipedia.org
"The body mass index (BMI), or Quetelet index, is a controversial statistical measurement which compares a person's weight and height. Though it does not actually measure the percentage of body fat, it may be a useful tool to estimate a healthy body weight based on how tall a person is. Due to its ease of measurement and calculation, it is the most widely used diagnostic tool to identify weight problems within a population, usually whether individuals are underweight, overweight or obese. It was invented between 1830 and 1850 by the BelgianpolymathAdolphe Quetelet during the course of developing "social physics"."
Ok, hold up. It says it does not actually measure the percentage of body fat. And who the hell is Adolphe Quetelet this anyway?
"Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quételet (22 February 1796 - 17 February 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist."
I don't see anything about medicine in there. Or even biology. What the fuck did he know about body fat or the human body?
"Some argue that the error in the BMI is significant and so pervasive that it is not generally useful in evaluation of health.[13][14] University of Chicago political science professor Eric Oliver says BMI is an inaccurate measure of weight and that academics and doctors have taken the easy way out and that at a minimum the standards of who is overweight and who is not need to be changed and that the US population has been forced to fit into these standards.[15]"
Gee, doctors taking the easy way out. Who would have guessed? Damn straight it needs to change!
"Because the BMI is dependent only upon weight and height, it makes simplistic assumptions about distribution of muscle and bone mass, and thus may overestimate adiposity on those with more lean body mass (e.g. athletes) while underestimating adiposity on those with less lean body mass (e.g. the elderly)."
"A 2005 study in America showed that overweight people actually had a lower death rate than normal weight people as defined by BMI.[17]"
So, I just really had to get that off my chest. And of course, we all have to jump through these hoops because we can hardly afford our insurance as it is.
Anyone from work reading this, better get to www.bravohealth.com/ardent before August 26th or you're screwed!