Companies Reward Employees With Financial Incentives For Healthy Living
By Karen Garloch, The Charlotte Observer | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
An informal survey of six large employers found that all offer premium discounts, gift cards or cash payments to employees who voluntarily participate in programs intended to improve health.
Those offerings include biometric testing to measure blood pressure, cholesterol levels and body mass index; online surveys to identify health risks; or lifestyle counseling online or on the phone.
Of the companies surveyed, both
Novant, for example, assesses
At
But
Eighty-three percent of all employees got that discount. If those employees had a spouse or domestic partner on the same insurance plan and they signed the same tobacco-free pledge, they got an additional
An additional
Getting both the tobacco-free discount and incentive award "can drastically reduce your premium" he said.
At
In 2012, 72 percent of eligible employees earned some type of "LiveWell" incentive, said
At Novant, about 10,000 employees -- half of the eligible population -- are participating in the wellness program, said Novant spokeswoman
When the Novant program started in 2008, incentive payments were included in employee pay checks. Now they are deposited in health savings accounts where the money can be used only for qualified medical expenses.
For the first time this year,
At 42, she said she has signed up for telephone coaching on good health habits, as well as other incentive offerings.
"I'm single, and I tend to eat a lot of frozen food or fast food. They're going to help me with that," she said. "I'm taking it very seriously. That's
Garloch: 704-358-5078
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