When it comes to insurance, discrimination is part of the equation.  It always has been.  Age, sex, health status, driving record, credit score and more are used to determine rates for different policies.  It’s just that employers are now crossing a line that previously hadn’t been crossed by either charging more for higher risk individuals or not hiring them at all.  I don’t see a lawsuit holding up on this one.  Smoking is not protected by employment laws.  Unless some laws are rewritten pretty much anything outside of the equal opportunity act is fair game.

What about habitual cell phone users?  It has been shown driving while using a cell phone is as dangerous as driving drunk.  It has also now been linked to brain cancer.  Let’s throw all those rude people under the bus too!

This is all about money. Maybe they will start asking women of child bearing age to pay extra as well?

I am a former smoker and I understand just how hard the addiction can be to beat by some people.  It had to become a life or death choice for me and I still had a hard time putting them down.  For government entities now to openly discriminate against people that pay more than their fair share of taxes, because they became addicted to a federally subsidized narcotic goes beyond the pale!
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What’s next?  A genetically engineered blond haired, blue-eyed, disease resistant super race???

I don’t smoke or chew tobacco but for me this is way over the top of what is acceptable. If they want to charge extra for insurance for smokers or chewers, Over weight or athletes or people with chronic illnesses and all treated the same it would seem more acceptable but picking out just one group not to hire is pushing it way over the top. This thing is crying for a class action law suit.

I wonder if this will include judges, district attorney, etc.  Equal rights for all, right?

I think this is just another fanatic form of discrimination.  It seems that some people must always have other people they can target and the smoker is an easy one.  Now that they can not openly go after others based upon race, sex, age, obesity, etc. they have zeroed in on smokers.
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They best get a prohibition law passed for tobacco, before they start dictating lifestyle choices to people.  You will never see that happen, because of the millions and millions of tax dollars that are being raked in from the purchase of tobacco.

My previous employer charged significantly more for health insurance if you used tobacco.  To me it seemed more reasonable than not hiring or even firing someone, which does happen.

I know non-smoker friends who get more colds and viruses than me, a smoker!  Who are they kidding?  I hope someone steps in.  This is ridiculous!

People that participate in organized sports run a higher risk of injury than does a couch potato.  Will they go after those people too?

It might be interesting to get the ACLU involved with this and see just what those left wingnuts would do with a case like this.