Congress Plans Incentives for Healthy Habits

[snowdays]

all well and fine but single payer needs to be at this 'healthy" table. Right now it smells of rotten fish--from the top.



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/health/policy/10health.html?em


Congress Plans Incentives for Healthy Habits


By ROBERT PEAR
Published: May 9, 2009

WASHINGTON — In its effort to overhaul health care, Congress is planning to give employers sweeping new authority to reward employees for healthy behavior, including better diet, more exercise, weight loss and smoking cessation.
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A web of federal rules limits what employers and insurers can do now.

Congress is seriously considering proposals to provide tax credits or other subsidies to employers who offer wellness programs that meet federal criteria. In addition, lawmakers said they would make it easier for employers to use financial rewards or penalties to promote healthy behavior among employees.

Two Democratic senators working on comprehensive health legislation, Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, and Tom Harkin of Iowa, have taken the lead in devising such incentives.

“Prevention and wellness should be a centerpiece of health care reform,” said Mr. Harkin, who regularly climbs the stairs to his seventh-floor office on Capitol Hill.

The White House agrees. One of President Obama’s eight principles for health legislation is that it must “invest in prevention and wellness,” a goal espoused in almost identical words by Republican senators like John Cornyn of Texas and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah.

Frank B. McArdle, a health policy expert at Hewitt Associates, a benefits consulting firm, said, “Wellness and prevention programs have become a mainstream part of the benefits offered by large employers, and it’s virtually certain that Congress will include incentives for such programs” in its bill. The goals of such programs are to help people control blood pressure, fight obesity and manage diabetes and other chronic conditions.

Under Mr. Harkin’s proposal, employers could obtain tax credits for programs that offer periodic screenings for health problems and counseling to help employees adopt healthier lifestyles. Programs could focus on tobacco use, obesity, physical fitness, nutrition and depression, he said..........

[Cha]

1. Good..prevention is

the best form of healthcare and taking responsibility for ourselves.

[snowdays]

2. yes, but the emphasis needs to be on Health care for ALL!!

[Vinca]

3. They are bound and determined to make whatever pile of crap

they come up with be so complicated and confusing no one will be able to make heads or tails of it. Heaven forbid we might have a plan like Canada where you show up at the hospital, flash a card and that's that.

[Vidar]

4. Great post. That's their plan.