North Carolina’s new wellness initiative will reward employees for losing weight and choosing to quit smoking. Watch to find out how much you’ll save, and when.
North Carolina state employees may soon be able to save money on health coverage by losing weight and quitting smoking.
A new wellness initiative is underway in the state. Starting in July 2010, all North Carolina employees who belong to the state health plan and don’t smoke will be eligible to cut their out-of-pocket medical costs by one third. And in July 2011, plan members who have a body mass index within a set guideline will also be able to save money.
On average, state employees who smoke or have weight problems pay $600 more per year for their medical coverage. But the new initiative will also include weight loss and smoking cessation classes. These could help some employees become eligible for healthcare discounts.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:01 am
What they don’t tell you is that we had good coverage and this is the way they decided to penalize anyone who is overweight or smokes (about 80% of state employees fall into this category). Anyone who has a certain BMI or smokes will be dropped to a lower coverage tier unless you can prove that you are involved in weight loss program or tobacco cessation program. Then you may be subject to random “BMI checks” or urinalysis for tobacco at work. If you fail test you are immediately dropped to lower tier and have NO grievance rights. This occurred during a year where they already discontinued the highest insurance tier and double all of the co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance on the 2 remaining tiers. Many of my co-workers cannot afford to pay for the insurance for their kids and spouses and are only able to afford the coverage for themselves.