http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/hea lth-plans/2007/10/25/americas-best-health-plans.html
WHAT IS THE BIG NEWS ABOUT HEALTH CARE – US.
The bill for 2005 - The amount of health care spending during the year 2005 was estimated as 2*$1.1 trillion. The cost of productivity loss plus health care was $1.1 trillion. Hence reorienting the health system toward prevention is a better option rather than treatment of diseases. Discounted gym memberships, free cholesterol screening. movie passes for completing a personal health Q&A did not really work with the employees. So what can be done ? The carrot and stick policy was adopted. Hefty rewards for those who toe the line and penalties for those who do not were tried. Clarian Health Partners, started experiments of penalizing people who smoked, who were found to be overweight, who had high blood sugar, high cholesterol and blood pressure. The plan backfired and was a failure. Clarion’s are now offering 30$ extra $ with every pay check for those who conform to the guide line values. Companies like IBM are now rewarding the workers for good habits like exercising, eating right and non smoking and for filling out questionnaires on health. Author’s note : Better teach yoga which will improve both productivity and health. But then the medicine sellers will be upset.