The Citizen Times has a worthwhile overview of changes in insurance systems regarding health management and the like . . . cost of smoking rises again with insurance surcharges . . . incentives for folks to quit smoking or lose weight are becoming more common as the health care costs skyrocket. Smoking alone costs more than it is worth, not just to individuals and their families but to the economy: “Smoking-related health-care costs run $75.5 billion every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The price tag for lost productivity is an additional $92 billion a year.” While some corporations really do want a happy, healthy workforce as they care about their employees, it is the economic costs that finally has companies sitting up and taking notice . . .

Faced with a dire warning from her doctor and the desire to care for her grandson, Debbie Moody decided it was time to end her three-decade-old habit. “You have to want to quit,” she said. “Like anything, you have to want it bad enough to go for it.” A two-pack-a-day cigarette smoker who started at age 14, Moody quit in January after taking a hypnosis class. She didn’t really confront the heath risks, she said, until she saw pictures of people who had lost limbs to circulatory problems aggravated by smoking. “When you’re smoking, you don’t realize the dangers and the things you’re doing to your body until somebody hits you over the head with it,” said Moody, a purchasing agent at Haywood Regional Medical Center. Around the country, some companies are adding an incentive to quit by hitting workers somewhere else: their pocketbook. Employers are increasingly tacking surcharges onto insurance premiums in an attempt to manage rising health-care costs, and some refuse to employ smokers. Rather than surcharges, companies in Western North Carolina are increasingly offering benefit plans that reward employees for making healthy choices, said John Roegner, director of business planning strategies at Asheville’s Colton Groome & Co., an employee benefits consulting firm. “There’s a positive incentive for healthy lifestyles,” Roegner said. “It’s a trend in terms of sharing risks and responsibilities between employer and employee.” Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state’s largest insurer, has created a pilot program that rewards people for quitting smoking, joining weight management groups or making other health-conscious choices. “If you agree to make certain positive lifestyle changes, you can reduce the amount of your paycheck deduction for health insurance,” said Mark Stinneford, a spokesman for the Durham-based insurer. Smoking-related health-care costs run $75.5 billion every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The price tag for lost productivity is an additional $92 billion a year.

We’ll have to see which programs tend to work best . . . carrot incentives or stick surcharges . . . but, either way, it is clear that insurance companies and corporations are going to continue in the trend of anti-smoking programs as well as weight-reduction programs simply due to the economic costs or lower productivity with an eye out for healthier employees.

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