Bosses say get healthy...or get lost

I have a piece in this week's cover package about mandatory health at the office. Check out the issue; it's a serious-but-fun, thinky take on 10 ideas that we think will shape Americans' lives in the year to come.

In my piece, I talked about the trend among employers to get serious about workers' health. Why? Duh: money.

Health-care expenditures in the U.S. totaled $27 billion in 1960; in 2005, $2 trillion. Oh, workers paid their part, in the form of premiums and co-pays. But as benefits grew more generous, employees' contributions shrank.

Here's what I'm talking about:

The latest innovation may wind up having the biggest impact of all: a crackdown on workers' poor health habits involving both the carrot and the (cancer) stick. See, American workers today are about as fit as caged hamsters with all-day access to the nut bowl. Our collective obesity, inactivity and refusal to part with the smokes have led to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Yep. Friends, we're as fat and lazy as pet rodents. And our bosses don't like it.

Verizon Wireless, Microsoft and Dow Chemical dangle cash bonuses for workers who lose weight or stop smoking. A growing number of employers assign "health coaches" to monitor workers' diets and lifestyles. Two-thirds of companies offer so-called wellness programs. Office-furniture maker Steelcase is marketing a treadmill equipped with a computer: a hamster wheel with e-mail.

But here's where it gets scary:

Some bosses are done being nice. They're firing workers for smoking, and they're screening job applicants for nicotine. Your home is no haven: Gary Ross of San Francisco was canned by a telecommunications company for using legal, medically prescribed marijuana to ease chronic back pain from injuries sustained in the Air Force. In December, a state court upheld the firing.

That's right. Not only can your employers scold you for your nasty habits; they can fire your butt. Is this right? I mean, they do foot the bill. Or is it another example of The Man turned Big Brother?