Question

Jay Bhattacharya and M. Kate Bundorf of Stanford University have found evidence that people who are obese and work for firms that have​ employer-provided health insurance receive lower wages than people working at those firms who are not obese. At firms that do not provide health​ insurance, obese workers do not receive lower wages than workers who are not obese.​Source: Jay Bhattacharya and M. Kate​ Bundorf, "The Incidence of the Health Care Costs of​ Obesity," Journal of Health Economics​, Vol.​ 28, No.​ 3, May​ 2009, pp.​ 649-58.Firms that provide workers with health insurance may pay a lower wage to obese workers than to workers who are not obese because the former tend to be less healthy and consequentlyA. more costly to insure and therefore employ due to their higher claim submission rate.B. experience higher rates of absenteeism and early retirement.C. less productive at work.D.all of the above.E. A and B only.

Answer 1

The answer is: D) All of the above

Step-by-step explanation:

Obesity is nowadays considered a disease defined as a body mass index (BMI) of ≥30 kg/m2. In the US it is more common in women (40.4%) than in men (35%). It affects the general healthcare of individuals and therefore their productivity levels in an organization. Obese people show higher levels of absenteeism, disability, worker compensation claims, early retirement and lower levels of job productivity or performance.

It is also more expensive for a company to insure an obese worker due to their health problems and higher claim submission rates.

This is not necessarily true for every worker that suffers obesity or every type of job, but statistically compared to not obese coworkers, obese workers are not as productive and more expensive to insure. The way a company compensates that is by paying them less.