Lose Weight Or Pay Up
Some employers, citing growing medical costs tied to obesity, are offering fit workers lucrative incentives that shave thousands of dollars a year off healthcare premiums. In one of the boldest moves yet, an Indiana-based hospital chain last month said it decided on the stick rather than the carrot. Starting in 2009, Clarian Health Partners will charge employees as much as $30 every two weeks unless they meet weight, cholesterol and blood-pressure guidelines that the company deems healthy.
Employers are getting serious about penalizing workers because they’ve run out of other options. UnitedHealthcare, a nationwide insurer, introduced a plan this month that, for a typical family, includes a $5,000 yearly deductible that can be reduced to $1,000 if an employee isn’t obese and doesn’t smoke. A similar plan was offered to county workers in Benton County, Ark. The $2,500-a-year deductible can be reduced to $500 if a worker meets low height-to-weight ratios during yearly on-site physicals. (According to federal guidelines, a man who is 6 feet tall is considered obese if he weighs more than 221 pounds. A 5-foot-6 woman is obese if she weighs more than 185 pounds.) Take a look at the complete chart.
Thomas Dunlap, the county’s benefits administrator, said the plan had witnessed a nearly 30% drop in claims — and provoked changes in the workplace. Workers can take free weight-reduction classes and there are now regular competitions betweens departments to see who can lose the most weight. Awesome! The Biggest Loser Show now being applied at work. According to a 2005 Stanford University study, obese people with health coverage may already be punished on the job. Those surveyed were paid an average of $1.20 less per hour than non-obese workers, perhaps because employers intentionally adjust their wages to account for healthcare costs.As the number of obese Americans continues to soar — it’s now 1 in 3 — employer healthcare premiums are growing twice as fast as inflation to nearly double their cost at the beginning of the decade. Employers have been struggling with how to hold down costs without offending or pushing away workers. In recent years, companies have offered cash, merchandise and gift cards to those who lose weight or lower their blood pressure. A few have begun refusing to hire and in some cases have fired workers who smoke. It’s about time something is done about healthcare cost.
