Does motivating employees to lose weight with cash work to contain health care costs?
Knowledge @ Wharton published an article last week about a company that is avoiding rising health insurance premiums by creating incentives for employees to lose weight.
They use a BMI of 30 as the discriminating factor between employees that pay a lower insurance premium and a higher insurance premium, and incentivize employees to make progress during the year even if they can’t get all the way below 30.
I know some will take issue with BMI being used as the measurement; others point to the host of factors largely outside of a person’s control that contribute to obesity; still others might argue about unfairness – the host of behaviors individuals can engage in that contribute to poor health and rising costs (smoking, excessive alcohol, etc) that are not singled out for higher premiums. But no one can disagree that obesity is a big problem not just for the health care system, but for the health of Americans.
