Monday, August 2, 2010

5 Ways to Incentivize Better Employee Health


Are you wondering whether you can charge your employees to offset the cost of their unhealthy lifestyle choices, or to motivate healthy behavior changes?   Apparently you can.   Per a recent Market Watch article:

"According to a Hewitt survey released earlier this year, almost half of large U.S. employers say they currently use or plan to use financial penalties over the next three to five years for employees who do not participate in certain health improvement programs. Such penalties will likely take the form of higher health insurance premiums or deductibles, or higher out-of-pocket expenses than employees who are deemed healthy must pay."
A member of Chief Executive Boards International sent me an article from MarketWatch that included various ways you might help recover your costs of unhealthy behavior or (better yet) motivate changes in lifestyle choices:
  • Raise all deductibles, perhaps to $2000, with a $500 credit for those participating in screening for cholesterol, blood pressure, tobacco risks, etc.   
  • Higher premium copays for smokers
  • 10% premiuim copay discount for non-smokers or smokers who enroll in a smoke-cessation program
  • Higher premium copays for those with high body-mass indices
  • 10% premium copay discount for participation in wellness or exercise programs
Of course, plenty of gray areas exist, depending upon health conditions outside an employee's control.  Read the full MarketWatch article....

If you have taken steps to economically motivate or penalize employees for health-related lifestyle choices, please click on "Comments" below and share them with others.

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Terry Weaver


CEO
Chief Executive Boards International

http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

Chief Executive Boards International: Freedom for business owners & CEOs -- Less Work, More Money, More Freedom to enjoy it

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