http://www.nbcnews.com/health/how-your-company-watching-your-waistline-2D11577726
PENALTIES HIT SMOKERS HARDEST
Next year many more companies plan to penalize workers who use nicotine because of their much higher health care costs. Proctor & Gamble Co, the Cincinnati-based household-product giant, will begin charging such employees an additional $25 per month in 2014 until they have completed a company-paid cessation program.
Under similar provisions, state employees in Wisconsin and Washington state will pay as much as $600 more per year, while nonunion smokers at United Parcel Service Inc will pay as much as $1,800.
"We found that while less than 10 percent of workers at large employers smoke, their impact to health care costs is disproportionately huge," said LuAnn Heinen, vice president for the National Business Group on Health. "Helping them quit — however you do that — has the most obvious near-term payoff in terms of savings and productivity gains."
A recent Ohio State University study found that businesses pay nearly $6,000 more annually per employee who smokes compared with a nonsmoker. Other research suggests that less than 16 percent of employees participate in voluntary smoking cessation programs, Heinen added.
A.H. Belo, owner of the Dallas Morning News, Providence Journal and other publications, told staff in September that for 2014 it would require employees and their spouses to complete a biometric health screening or face a $100 annual surcharge. In 2015, employees will be asked not only to undergo the screening but to meet three out of five as yet unspecified health goals to avoid the additional fee.
COSTLY PUNISHMENTS
Under Obama's Affordable Care Act, which takes effect in January, companies can offer a reward of up to 30 percent of health care costs paid by the employee to those who complete voluntary programs like smoking cessation, a risk assessment or biometric tests like waist measurement.
The financial incentives could add up to about $1,620 annually per worker. But if wellness programs don't end up saving costs, companies can raise premiums across the board or slap them on workers who don't get with the programs. In some states, tobacco users who sign up for insurance through the new state health exchanges could be charged 50 percent higher premiums than nonsmokers.
No Cheers,
RR
PENALTIES HIT SMOKERS HARDEST
Next year many more companies plan to penalize workers who use nicotine because of their much higher health care costs. Proctor & Gamble Co, the Cincinnati-based household-product giant, will begin charging such employees an additional $25 per month in 2014 until they have completed a company-paid cessation program.
Under similar provisions, state employees in Wisconsin and Washington state will pay as much as $600 more per year, while nonunion smokers at United Parcel Service Inc will pay as much as $1,800.
"We found that while less than 10 percent of workers at large employers smoke, their impact to health care costs is disproportionately huge," said LuAnn Heinen, vice president for the National Business Group on Health. "Helping them quit — however you do that — has the most obvious near-term payoff in terms of savings and productivity gains."
A recent Ohio State University study found that businesses pay nearly $6,000 more annually per employee who smokes compared with a nonsmoker. Other research suggests that less than 16 percent of employees participate in voluntary smoking cessation programs, Heinen added.
A.H. Belo, owner of the Dallas Morning News, Providence Journal and other publications, told staff in September that for 2014 it would require employees and their spouses to complete a biometric health screening or face a $100 annual surcharge. In 2015, employees will be asked not only to undergo the screening but to meet three out of five as yet unspecified health goals to avoid the additional fee.
COSTLY PUNISHMENTS
Under Obama's Affordable Care Act, which takes effect in January, companies can offer a reward of up to 30 percent of health care costs paid by the employee to those who complete voluntary programs like smoking cessation, a risk assessment or biometric tests like waist measurement.
The financial incentives could add up to about $1,620 annually per worker. But if wellness programs don't end up saving costs, companies can raise premiums across the board or slap them on workers who don't get with the programs. In some states, tobacco users who sign up for insurance through the new state health exchanges could be charged 50 percent higher premiums than nonsmokers.
No Cheers,
RR
