I've talk with lots of business owners on a consistent basis. One of the recurring issues for them and for us here at the church is the rising cost of health insurance. More and more businesses are looking at creative ways to get their employees healthy in hopes their yearly insurance premiums increases will drop below double digits.
My good friend Dr. Kindra Browning sent me an article from
Workforce Management. The article covered a company in Indianapolis that's going to start fining employees with unhealthy habits.
Here's the deal. The following numbers carry a $5 per pay fine that is deducted automatically from an employees paycheck.
- Body mass index over 29.9
- Blood pressure over 140/90
- Blood glucose over 120
- LDL (Bad) cholesterol over 130
I'm very interested to see how this plays out over time. Will more companies follow suite? Will employees not work for this company? Will this really effect their health insurance premiums? Would you work for a company that has policy like this?
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1 comment:
I think this a great idea. For years, the healthy living subscribers have been subsidizing those that make unhealthy choices. The problem with this plan though, is that a couple of these items, LDL and BP can be the result of bad genetics. I could exercise til the cows come home and maintain ideal BMI, but my LDL will only come down 10% with exercise: same with BP: theres only so much that exercise can do. With medication, I can control both numbers and I guess thats the idea: encourage people to see the doctor and get these things straightened out. Once John Edwards gets elected and we all get FREE! health care, this plan will be out the window!!! JMO
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