Things such as smoking, obesity and other Health Conditions can force even those with employerprovided insurance to pay more. I run about five miles a day. I dont drink. I dont smoke. And by the kaiser Wellness Program that a number of employees who we represent are covered by im two pound from being overweight. Kaiser said in the statement their program is voluntary and charges no penalty for individuals who dont reach the programs goals. The rules for such a program put out in a regulation say quote, the program must be reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease. There is such a lack of precision in what is going on ut there that, it is kind of troubling that this was so heavily incorporated into the Affordable Care act in the way that it was. Wellness is very, very popular in the corporate world. Companies are just beginning to post some pretty severe penaltys. In workers dont participate they can be charged up to 20 of their health premium, going up to 30 in january. Employers like Wellness Programs because they think they attract healthier workers. For instance, cvs drugstores 5posed measures. Walmart penalizes sneakers by as much as 2300 a year if they want coverage. And one analyst says the 50 penalty for smoking permitted by obamacare is assessed against the entire cost of the plan. So if you have a plan that costs 6,000, typical employee would pay 1500, he, his 50 penalty is for the full 6,000. So that would be a 3,000dollar premium increase. His premium, out of his pocket will triple if hes a smoker. Morse also argues wellness plans can be very intrusive, asking a series of rather personal questions. Have you ever had a total hysterectomy . How much do you weigh . During the past week i have felt lonely, yes or no . During the past week i have felt sad, yes or no . Theres an ongoing debate whether or not these programs save costs. One analyst argues they save more for medicare than employers because old age is one when unHealthy Lifestyles catch up to us. Melissa very interesting. Should obamacare be in the business of fining you for what the government deems a bad habit . Here now Fox News Contributor dr. Ben carson, radio talk show host ben wick letter. Dr. Carson, let me start with you, what is your reaction to all this. Well i certainly like the idea of wellness. Ive been advocating that for many years because our Health System is built around sickness f we built it around wellness it would be much cheaper. What i dont particularly like having the government impose it because it becomes too arbitrary at that point and, you know, i dont like the idea of imposing extra penalties on people because youve determined that their lifestyle is inappropriate. What i like is, a situation where Everybody Knows what the costs are, and if you happen to be living a particularly good lifestyle, maybe you get some reduction in the amount youre responsible for. If you keep adding money up and penalties, people never know where they are. They never can plan anything. Melissa i dont know. I mean, ben, i would ask you, is that semantics though . That is what really struck me during that story. Is there a difference between giving someone a discount for joining a weight loss program, which they have done in the past or Smoking Cessation program. They have done that in the past and people have been fine with. That is there a difference between that and penalizing people, charging them, for the bad behavior . Melissa, thanks for having me on and dr. Carson, pleasure to be here with you. I think we actually, all three of us agree that its great to by people a discount for having Healthy Lifestyles that reduce their Health Care Costs and thats most of what this program does. It is actually only the smoking that you pay extra penalties. Melissa im not saying that i agree with that. Im saying is there a difference . Im just conducting discussion. Good question. I think there is big difference. There is difference between having your monthly premium and seeing it go down versus seeing it go up. The studies found for every dollar that goes into Wellness Programs you get 4. 30 back in reduced Health Care Costs and reduced absenteeism. That makes a lot of sense to give People Discount on premiums in order to have a healthy lifestyle. I think that is great. Melissa i think it is math and semantics. Give everyone more Expensive Health care policy and charge everyone the smoker rate and by the way if you quit smoking or dont smoke, you get a 100dollar discount. It is more theyre setting arbitrary ideas what is healthy is good for you. The example in the package that we watched just before this was someone who runs five miles a day and ostensibly very healthy but is close to that number, that bmi, body mass index, where theyre technically overweight. Are the calculations too imprecise to make sense, dr. Carson . Theyre much too imprecise. If someone is bodybuilder and mostly muscle mass, and may look the same as someone with mostly fat mass but their weight will be considerably different. That is the one of the reince i dont want a bunch of bureaucracies making these decisions. The whole thing that is troubling penalties penalties, penalties meant to control peoples behavior. This is a way to get your foot in the door. Pretty soon well be penalized for everything under the son in order to creel us. We have to look at the big picture. Melissa ben, i agree with that point that is troubling especially when you pile on top of it questions we heard at the indof the story, have you been said lately . Have you been depressed . Have you felt lonely . They start to go into deeper territory rather than a black or white issue whether you smoke or not, it becomes another government overreach, does it not. All of those questions that the invasive personal questions are things that you used to get asked when you applied for insurance in the first place. You dont get asked those things anymore because now preexisting conditions cant be a basis for denying insurance coverage. Were talking about Wellness Programs that companies voluntarily opt into in order to help their employees stay healthy and not get sick while on the job. Those are not impoised by the government. Those are decisions that employees make. Employees can voluntarily participate or not. They get discounts if they do and pay higher premiums if they dont. Melissa dr. Carson, do you agree with that . Cvs imposes a 50 a month fine if you dont answer the questions i guess you could not take the insurance or work at cvs if you dont like that. Unfortunately those are not very good choices. Like with everything, it requires reasonable people to sit down and come up with reasonable guidelines. This is what were look lacking with obamacare. We have the imposition of peoples wills, those who know best for everybody else. This is why we get into these kind of situations. Melissa yeah. We could talk about this intelligently and come up with very good ways to incorporate wellness into a good insurance program. Melissa yeah, absolutely. Great discussion. Thanks, gentlemen . Pleasure. Melissa just a short time ago senior sac Portfolio ManagerMichael Steinberg convicted of insider trading. Steinberg faces up to 20 years for each of the four counts. Lets go to jo ling kent for more. Jo, i heard there was drama in the courtroom . Someone fainted . Yeah, thats right. Steinberg himself actually fainted according to reuters just as the judge was announcing jury would come into room and deliver what would end up being a guilty verdict. What happened paramedics went inside. They took his Blood Pressure. He drank some juice. He stood up again. The judge said we do care about your health. They ended up proceeding from there. He was convicted of one count of conspiracy, four counts of securities fraud. And he will be sentenced on april 25th. So a lot going on in this courtroom. According to his lawyer, steinberg has actually had this happen to him before. He had similar experience previously of fainting. So this is not something new for himps. Perhaps there is health issue in question, melissa. Melissa what does all of this mean for steve cohen and sac and the rest of the case potentially against them . Certainly, yes. This is the first conviction of an sac staff member. This could impact steve cohen and what the secs cases against him right now. So we are expecting to see more play out but it will be interesting to see what happens in the conviction april 25th and what happens between now and then, melissa. Melissa absolutely. One of the other figures in this case, mathew martoma, fainted on his lawn right before he was arrested. Really bizarre and dramatic case. Thank you so much, jo. No problem. Melissa up next, dont despair if you need a doctor now. A brand new app could revolutionize the way you see your physician. On demand appointment only costs 40 bucks. The founder is here to tell us all about it. Very cool. If you ever feared not getting a job because of bad credit, senator Elizabeth Warren wants to be your savior. Shy is backing a bill to ban credit checks by employers because she says they unfairly target women and minorities. What do you think . Do you agree with that . Tweet me. Tell me what you think. It is todays money talker. Well be right back. More money coming right up clients are always learning more to make their money do more. ann to help me plan my next move, i take scottrades free, inbranch seminars. I use daily rket commentary to improve my strategy. Plus, their live webinars. And my local scottrade Office Guides my learning every step of the way. Because they know i dont trade like everybody. I trade like me. Im with scottrade. announcer ranked highest in Investor Satisfaction with selfdirected services by j. D. Power and associates. Because you cant beat zero heartburn. Woo hoo [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. One pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Melissa the doctor will see you now. For just 40 bucks. The a new app is about to revolutionize the way you see your physician. It is called doctor on demand. Here to sew you how it works is cofounder adam jackson. The show is called money. It is 40 bucks. Is that all it costs . Is that per visit . How does the whole thing work . Yeah, thats right. The app is free. Download it from itunes or Android Google store. No setup fee. No subscription fees. You only pay when you actually talk to a doctor. Melissa how long does it take to get an appointment . How do i do it . It is actually on demand just like the name of the company suggestions. It take as couple minutes to sign up. Well ask you a few questions at the beginning. What are your symptoms . What are you allergic to . Are you on any medications . Normal kind of medical intake stuff. Then you get right in there and immediately video chat with a doctor. Melissa okay, we have a doctor right here on our ipad who is ready to chat. Does that mean you doctors are on call 24 7 . If i woke up at 2 00 in the morning and i have a sore throat and want to see a doctor right then, what happens . Does your ipad ring and you quickly put on your jacket and tie talk to me. Doctor, can you hear me. Yes, melissa. So absolutely. We, our doctors are working shifts. Theyre licensed in the state upon which youre in. If youre in new york, you will get a new york doctor and illinois, get an illinois doctor. As soon as you enter into your information it will estimate the wait time. You will be connected with our doctors anytime of day. Melissa how are the doctors paid for this, dr. Basu . Sure. We have an overwhelmingly positive response from our doctors. There is over 1,000 doctors part of our practice. And theyre paid 30 out of every, out of the 40 for every call. Melissa interesting. What kind of stuff can you diagnose . Because you know i feel like if i had a rash i could hold, you know, whatever body part it is up to the ipad but, you know, if my problem is high Blood Pressure how will you monitor that . Yeah, thats a great question, melissa. So for a lot of the common, acute problems, coughs, colds, sinusitis, rash, a lot of those things this is perfect for. Not only can you up load a app, buu i could have you push on your sinuses. Show me exactly sore of where it is hurting and diagnose that acutely. For things that you mentioned specifically treating sort of chronic care issue like longer term diabetes, longer term hypertension, that really belongs as consistent followup in your doctors office. Urgent care issue this is perfect. Melissa you feel comfortable, you know, prescribing medication that way . Yeah. Again for those common ailments, you know, the urgent care type of issues, antibiotics or other medications are absolutely appropriate for this type of service. There are certain types of medications we will not prescribe. Obviously narcotics or pain medication. But for, you know, urinary tract infections, for prescription refills, for again, sinusitis melissa that kind of stuff. Okay. Adam, how, what kind of demand have you is it up and runing . What kind of demand have you seen for this so far . Were about a week old. We Just Launched in 15 states last tuesday. You know, mostly the big states and were going to be in 40 plus states in january. Demand has been awesome so far. People calling in. You know after the call they can leave their comments and rate the doctor and comments are coming back, oh, my goodness you saved me a trip to e. R. And saved me a trip to urgent care. It has been awesome so far. Melissa it would be for me, well worth 40 f youre sharing and giving them 30, how many doctors are willing to stand by the ipad and be ready to go to get paid 30 for a conversation . Doesnt seem like it is enough. Sure. This is volume game, right . If were only giving them one call per hour or two calls per hour, certainly not worth the doctors time. The doctor can see several patients per hour. When it nets out, you know, our doctors are actually being paid comparable to a doctor that would be in urgent care or primary care facility. Melissa real quick, because were running out of time, dr. Basu, the she is called money. That is why im asking all the personal money questions. Sure. Melissa is it worth it to you, how much do you have to make it an hour to make it worth to sit around next to your ipad . Thats a great question. Which have shifts, see four patients in an hour, that is 120 an hour which is on par or more than what we make in the [inaudible] melissa very interesting solution. Thank you for bringing the technology to our show. Got to tell you, i will probably sign up. Love it. Thanks a lot, melissa. Melissa up next, bad credit can prevent you from getting hired but with no job and no income you and your credit score could be sort of trapped in a vicious cycle, right . Should potential employers be allowed to check your credit . Tweet me, let me know what you think. It is our money talker. Have you heard of coins, it is supposed to replace your cash and credit cards with one little digital device. It may declutter your wallet or drain the money out of it too . 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So start a conversation with an advisor whos fully invested in you. Wells fargo advisors. Together well go far. Op to innovation. Open to ambition. Open to boldids. Thats why n york has a new plan dozens of tax ee zones all across thetate. Move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years. Were new york. If theres something that creates more jobs, and ows more businesses. Were open to it. Start a taxfree business at startupny. Com. Melissa got a boatload of debt and sketchy credit history. We have new hero for you today. Senator Elizabeth Warren massachusetts democrat is sponsoring a controversial bill that would prohibit employers from performing credit checks on potential hires. But isnt a companys right to know how responsible you are . This is todays money talker, here to hash it out, julie roginsky, Charlie Gasparino, uhoh, and tara dowdell. Charlie, what do you think about this. Half of me says im a civil libertarian. I dont want people prying into my private life. This isnt private. You stiff a bank, credit card company, stiff anybody, a Business Partner that is part of your public record. By the way some of this is in the public. So why cant employers know about this . By the way if you have a history of stiffing people, youre generally not a good person. I would want to know that before i hired someone. Melissa work behind the register for example . I dont want deadbeats handling Sensitive Information in my business. Melissa are youing a grass if if aghast. Charlie gasparino lays it out there. Im aghast as Charlie Gasparino quasibig government interference. No, listen, look, if you have, lets say you had a bankruptcy five years ago. You fell on hard times. Maybe the market crashed. Things didnt go so well. Youre underwater in your mortgage. And you screwed e