Workplace Wellness Plans Offer Big Incentives, but May Cost Your Privacy
&gt; Few expect employers will stop offering wellness programs outright — because most hope the programs will hold down health costs by getting workers to take steps to improve their well-being. Critics, however, point out that studies show little evidence that workplace wellness programs achieve these goals.<p>Insurers like Oscar are very savvy pioneers of what wellness programs actually do: select for healthier pools.<p>What difference does it make if your insurance costs $4,700 instead of $6,000 this year, if you&#x27;re so healthy you don&#x27;t use a dime of it? Oscar&#x27;s investment exit horizon is nearer than the time it takes health 28 year olds to turn 55 and chronically unhealthy.<p>How does it select for healthier pools? Older people don&#x27;t like being told what to do, or to have to use technology like fitness trackers and apps. It&#x27;s that simple.<p>As long as gratuitous technology and wellness selects for healthier pools, an insurer&#x27;s bottom line doesn&#x27;t care if wellness actually improves health outcomes. At least from an accounting point of view.<p>Obviously, we should support efforts to make people healthier. But I&#x27;m just trying to point out why insurers do this.