Safeway shows the way....

....to good health for their employees, according to a point raised by Mona Charen in her latest column.  

How do they do it?  Simple; they self-insure, and they've actually listened to their actuaries when they said that certain risk factors account for up to 80% of heart disease and diabetes and up to 60% of cancer, and they've written their health insurance rates accordingly.  Smokers and the obese pay more, fit nonsmokers pay less.

The result?  Zero net increases in health insurance rates for their workers, and 78% of workers approve.  It seems that even a produce washer can figure out he doesn't want to pay for chemo for a smoker, or angioplasty for the guy clogging up his arteries with McRib after McRib.

Now if only government could clue in....