Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Mamma Mia! Get healthy!
At our Spring Conference, Health Horizons' Jody Ranck mentioned the concept of "healthism," which refers to the moral responsibility that society imposes on individuals to maintain good health. We used a cover from Business Week to illustrate the point -- quit smoking or lose your job!
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Varallo, a town of 7,500 in northern Italy, is "offering cash rewards to overweight residents who slim down and more money if they keep the weight off."
Mayor Gianluca Buonanno is quoted as saying,
We wanted to encourage people to lose weight, and we thought that both the money and the idea of joining a group could be stimulating. . . . If you have a health problem, you can get sick, stop going to work and are less exuberant. . . . We just want a better society.
So what's the incentive for the 30 Varalloans who have signed up so far? Participants will be given $67 when they reach their ideal weight. If they don't gain any weight back after five months, they will receive $268. If they maintain their ideal weight for a year, they will get $670 more.
"Healthism" can have a negative or pejorative connotation, but it doesn't necessarily. For your reference, Wikipedia explains the concept further here.
Like the company profiled in the Business Week story, some companies are attempting to battle rising health care costs by imposing penalties on their employees. Recently, Clarian Health, an Indianapolis-based hospital system, announced that starting in 2009, it will fine employees $5 to $10 per paycheck if their body mass index or cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels are too high. And if they smoke, they'll be charged another $5 in each check, starting next year. Like the town of Varallo, Clarian is measuring outcomes. But unlike Varallo and many employers, it is penalizing workers for poor health instead of rewarding them for taking healthy steps.
I wonder whether Clarian feels an extra burden to have healthy employees because it is in the health care industry.