Differential Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Costs Based on "Health Management"

That's the topic of this Market Watch article by Jan Wieczner. Here's an excerpt:

Car insurance companies reward good behavior: Drivers with records free of 15-car pileups and tickets for doing 90 in a 55 pay cheaper premiums. Health insurers, on the other hand, offer people little incentive to stay out of harm’s (and doctor’s) way. But a growing number of health advocates say this is a mistake, and that the system would function better if bodies were treated more like Buicks. * * * Some Fortune 500 companies and other employers — from JetBlue to IBM to equipment manufacturer Caterpillar — have begun to experiment with new health-care models that allow employees to keep some of the money they don’t spend on health care, or that reward or penalize them based on how well they manage their health. Many of these plans more closely resemble auto insurance — with healthier employees effectively paying less than colleagues who are at greater risk for developing diseases related to smoking or obesity. For example, 38% of companies planned to charge higher premiums or deductibles in 2012 to employees who smoked, had high cholesterol levels, did not actively treat a chronic condition like diabetes or high blood pressure or failed on other health measures, according to Towers Watson — the same way people with speeding tickets pay higher auto insurance rates to compensate the plan for their greater risk of car damage.

Hmmm. I wonder whether in the end a supposed focus on health management would really mean little else than sick people pay more.

Comments

[rca generali]

The issue become a larger issue when you find out how they compute the short term short rate penalty.

[Suzy Frame]

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