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Health Bill Has a Big Carrot for the Healthy

Senate measure would let employers cut premiums up to 50%

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 15, 2009 12:04 PM CDT
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(Newser) – A measure slipped into the Senate’s health care reform bill could cut workers’ insurance costs by up to half if they eat well, lose weight, and quit smoking, the Boston Globe reports. The measure may be key to encouraging Americans to stay healthy without too much government imposition, a major point of contention in the debate. “Money talks,” notes Sen. Judd Gregg.

Firms that offer health insurance can currently cut costs by just 20% for employees who work to get healthier. The bill would push that figure to 30%, and allow the Obama administration to hike it to 50%. The bill “will help Americans become healthier, avoid illness, and reduce health care costs to individuals, businesses, and the government,” said acting health committee chairman Chris Dodd.

Acting Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, right, huddles with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Mike Enzi, center, and Sen. Lamar Alexander.
Acting Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, right, huddles with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Mike Enzi, center, and Sen. Lamar Alexander.   (AP Photo)
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee members engage in a discussion, during the continuation of a markup of the Affordable Health Choices Act yesterday.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee members engage in a discussion, during the continuation of a markup of the Affordable Health Choices Act yesterday.   (AP Photo)
Acting Senate health committee chair Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., huddles with Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, before a mark-up of the Affordable Health Choices Act, Monday, July 13, 2009.
Acting Senate health committee chair Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., huddles with Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, before a mark-up of the Affordable Health Choices Act, Monday, July 13, 2009.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Barack Obama gestures during his remarks on lower drug costs, June 22, 2009, at the White House.
President Barack Obama gestures during his remarks on lower drug costs, June 22, 2009, at the White House.   (AP Photo)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 10 comments
Ucantusethatname
Jul 17, 2009 4:04 AM CDT
Dodd says, "The bill “will help Americans become healthier, avoid illness, and reduce health care costs to individuals, businesses, and the government." Right. Dodd's a guy we can believe, a reliable guy. Wrong. Said Brian Walsh, "Here is a politician [Dodd] who was asleep at the wheel during the housing crisis, while at the same time he was the second largest recipient of campaign cash from the finance and credit card companies (only Obama surpassed him), he took 160K from Fannie & Freddie, he was receiving a sweetheart mortgage deal from Countrywide and he was spending his summers at his estate in Ireland. And now after all of that has been so widely reported he is seriously expecting his constituents to believe he's the anti-lobbyist politician?" My father would say, "I wouldn't trust Dodd in a septic tank with a muzzle on."
Ucantusethatname
Jul 16, 2009 12:35 PM CDT
Total nonsense. Nothing is going to happen to "cut costs." Cutting costs is not a phrase understood by Dems. Tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend. That's the Dems way. How can any thinking American believe the words of Chris Dodd and Drunky Ted? The entire health debate is a sham to increase costs and decrease health care to seniors.
NotEvsie
Jul 15, 2009 8:31 AM CDT
That was my first thought. The day a struggling small business owner asks an employee to consider getting healthier to save money on their healthcare, he's opening himself up to a law suit. That said, I like the proposal in broad terms, healthy people are less likely to get ill, thus less likely to claim... why shouldn't they see some reflection of that in their premiums?

 
health care • health care costs • health insurance • Senate • smoking • weight loss • diet • Chris Dodd • healthy habits • discounts • incentives • Obama administration • Judd Gregg

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