An increasing number of businesses are levying higher healthcare costs on obese employees and smokers, according to Reuters.
Concerns about growing employee benefit costs are focused partly on the expense of managing long-term and chronic conditions, which are a growing problem throughout the nation. Obesity and smoking can increase the risk of chronic and long-term health problems, such as heart disease.
As a result, many employers have been adopting measures to help their workers form healthier habits, encouraging good eating, healthy weight and quitting smoking with incentives that lower their insurance costs.
These steps have had limited success, according to the source. As a result, some companies have concluded that charging more for unhealthy habits might be more effective. According to Reuters, Wal-Mart has announced plans to combine the two approaches, offering free smoking cessation classes and charging tobacco users higher premiums.
Company spokesman Greg Rossiter indicated employees who smoke take up 25 percent more healthcare services than those who do not, making the decision a necessary one to maintain balance between quality of coverage and reasonable costs. A recent survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health estimated 40 percent of large and mid-sized companies will use penalties in 2012, a 21 percentage point increase from this year.
