Looking at insurance options this year we have BCBS and they require within 1 year to accumulate like 4200 points in this “Wellness program”. These include things like cholesterol screening and mandatory exercise. You do such and such and you get so many “points” . If you dont do 4200 in a year they charge an extra $20 more a month.
Now I cant find many good links to specifics but here are some links to give you the general idea.
Link one.
Link Three.
Anyone here seen this?
Such programs are getting to be pretty common with U.S. health insurance – it’s not just a Blue Cross thing. Usually they’re more “carrot”-ish (i.e., you can earn points/gift cards by doing things) – it’s less common (but not unheard of) for them to be more “stick”-ish (i.e., things that you’re required to do, or face a penalty, as you note with the extra $20 monthly surcharge).
They all are focused on the same thing, however – trying to encourage people to exercise and engage in preventative medicine (health screenings, flu shots, annual physicals, etc.), because those sorts of things have been found to decrease long-term health costs.
Also, just to note that there is no one “BCBS” – different companies operate as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee in different regions (typically by state). So, if you’re insured by, say, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, you’re insured by a completely different company than someone who has Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. (Though, there are some holding companies, like Anthem and HCSC, which operate the “Blues” in multiple states.)
My insurance gently prods me to do a diabetic clinic and a nutritional clinic once a month. Saves me copays and I get freebies. I usually don’t mind them. Made a couple friends. If they’d get better snacks I would like it better.
I have BCBS FEHB (retired Federal employee) and the Wellness Program I have is of the “carrot” variety. Every year I can earn $50 for completing a health survey, which generates a wellness report with suggestions of things I can do. I can also earn $20 apiece for doing various activities such as “eating well” for a certain number of days over a fixed period. There are also quit-smoking and diabetes management programs. The money earned goes on a debit card which can be used for authorized medical expenses such as co-payments and prescriptions. Obviously, I take advantage of this every year.
Disclosure: as I’ve mentioned in other threads, I work in advertising, and my primary client is a regional health insurance company.
I should have mentioned condition-management programs like those, as well; health insurers know that many people with chronic conditions like diabetes aren’t good about keeping on top of their recommended treatments (i.e., they don’t take their meds, they don’t do regular blood sugar testing, they don’t go in for regular check-ups, etc.), and uncontrolled chronic conditions can easily lead to more serious health issues (and greater costs to treat).
Several years ago I agreed to sign up in return for $100 gift certificate. I spent the gift certificate and never did anything else, it wasn’t going to do anything to lower my insurance costs. I should check on it again, maybe they’ll send me more gift certs.
So, gamification is finally in health insurance? I’ll pass; I don’t typically have time for stuff like that. I can’t say that it’s nonsense; a lot of people don’t know basic stuff. If they could send me a 10 minute web-based test, maybe I’d do that. Beats two hours chasing Pokeman.
How do they know you’re “eating well”? Do you send in stool samples or something?
The last one I did gave me $15 a month back if I went to the gym eight times in a month.
Paid for my gym membership and a Big Mac, every month.
My monthly nutrition clinic is basically education. When I go I assume it gets clicked on someones computer.
I love going to that one when I feel well. I get clif bars and protein shakes. Coupons for free stuff at the grocery store. This past month I got 3 bottles of Eucerin lotion. That stuff is expensive. Not sure how it’s nutrition, but I don’t question freebies.
The actual Diabetic clinic checks sugar and bp. The type IIs weigh in. I get free insulin pens and other supplies. And the Diabetic NP gives a little pep talk. My co-pay is reduced if I make that one every month.
For most of these sorts of wellness programs, something like “are you eating well”? is likely asked in a questionnaire (or, as Beck notes, if you’re in a condition-management program, they may be having you talk with a dietitian every so often). They might make you hear (or look at some web content) about healthy food choices, but ultimately, if you want to eat nothing but bacon, and still answer “yes, I am eating a balanced diet” on their questionnaire, it’s very unlikely that they can line up your answers with your actual behavior.
Even working out / going to the gym regularly is likely on the honor system on a lot of these wellness programs.
Yep, I get reams and reams of paper with recipes and meal choices. As I’m on the ‘too skinny list’ I get chewed out if I lose weight. I’ve quit weighing in to avoid this. And afterwards I go to the Sonic for corndogs. The dietician really hates me eating corndogs but she cannot find too much wrong with them. I can afford the calories and most days I can finagle around with my carbs to be able to have them.
Same. Signed on, got the Visa gift card, and have proceeded to mostly ignore it. Eh, my primary care doc will ream me out on what I should or should not be doing, anyway (besides reaming me out more literally, which focuses my attention more effectively TBH).
We have a different program but essentially the same idea. We save $1500/year or so, for just a few tasks that we’d do anyway.
I had UHC before being laid off, High deductible health plan with an HSA. If you did a few basics tasks, such as a health screening which was held at the company, they’d throw a few hundred extra into the HSA. If you fell below a baseline for the health screen, you also had to make a call to a health counselor, you automatically fell below if the heath screen detected nicotine
I’m going to guess that, by “UHC,” you mean “UnitedHealthcare,” not “universal health care.” 
Because your average worker can’t be trusted with personal freedom.
Brought to you by people who want government to stay out of their lives.
I think I’ll be sending in that stool sample whether they want it or not. A nice big chunky one.
Yeah, I more or less have to participate to keep my monthly premiums affordable.
Every year we do this dance where they say “Get your flu shot! Get your flu shot! You have asthma, you MUST get a flu shot!”
I say “Last time I got a flu shot I broke in hives, wheezing, and wound up in the ER being treated for allergic shock.”
“Oh… don’t get a flu shot. Ever.”
“OK”
A week later “Get your flu shot! Get your flu shot! You have asthma, you MUST get a flu shot!”
“Personalized plan” my ass - this is medicine via checking off boxes.
Alternate ways this plays out:
“Can you document that you had this reaction?”
“Um… no, because it happened almost 40 years ago now before electronic records and stuff.”
“We don’t have a record of you being allergic to eggs. Do you eat eggs?”
“Um… I understand why you ask that, but there are other things than eggs in those shots and I have no idea what I reacted to.”
“Would you consider trying a flu shot again?”
“No, I don’t care to risk death. Also, every medical person I’ve mentioned my prior reaction to refuses to come anywhere near me with a flu vaccine after I say that so I think I’m going to go with the doctors on this one rather than an insurance company employee with no medical certification whatsoever.”
“How do you know I don’t have medical certification?”
“Because if you actually did have medical training you wouldn’t ask someone with a history of anaphyllaxis to re-expose themselves to what triggered the reaction in the first place.”
And, I do this every year: Thank you to those of you who DO get a flu shot so you won’t spread the virus to people such as myself, who can’t get that protection.
This has nothing to do with “personal freedom”; it has to do with money. The company pays lower health insurance premiums by having employees get flu shots and check their cholesterol. Since it is an employer-provided benefit, it is no different than requiring employees to use the company’s vision-plan administrator to get cheap glasses. If you don’t like the rules and requirements associated with a particular benefit, you are of course free to decline it, or to lobby your company to pay more in premiums to remove particular requirements.
Lol, yes, United Health Care