Can The Auto Insurance Model Work For Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance?

With most people with employer-sponsored insurance plans, an employee who never visits the doctor pays the same premium as her co-worker who is a regular in his doctor’s waiting room. But what about plans that either reward an employee’s healthy behavior or penalize those with risky lifestyles?
Marketwatch.com takes a look at some plans being offered by Fortune 500 businesses like IBM, JetBlue and Caterpillar that take an approach to group health plans that resembles what you see in auto insurance policies.

Much like safe driving is often rewarded by auto insurers (and things like speeding tickets and accidents result in higher premiums), some of these plans are using this carrot/stick approach to encourage members to refrain from smoking, keep their cholesterol levels manageable, and maintain their treatments for chronic conditions.

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