I have traditionally not been one of those typical government hating, pro anarchy activists. I still believe government has it’s place, but I do think it has started to overstep it’s boundaries on a regular basis. And not only government, but large corporations as well.
A friend of mine works for a large corporation. Recently, she received a notice in the mail to fill out an online survey regarding her health care habits. For filling out the survey, her per pay period deduction for health insurance would be 50% less than if she failed to complete the survey. To begin with, an unethical method of getting a survey completed.
To make matters worse, the survey required the user to log in to complete – so anonymity is out the door. The questions were invasive, personal and entirely inappropriate. Definitely nothing I would want my employer to ask, heck – some of them I wouldn’t want my doctor to ask. They covered everything from sexual habits, to drug use, to alcohol and sleep. They asked questions typically addressed by the psychiatric community – regarding feelings of sadness, insomnia, eating habits, compulsions. I was offended for her and I had nothing to do with the survey.
There is a place for such health assessments and it should not be one’s place of employment. And while the survey may not have been “mandated,” they surely made it hard to refuse. Hopefully she and everyone else who filled it out falsified the information enough to throw their results so far off they would be unable to use them.
Big Brother would be proud and George Orwell would give a snide “I told you so.”
The Road Less Travelled 