CVS Caremark employees with company health insurance are being asked to take a free health screening—for basic metrics such as weight, body fat, blood pressure, and glucose levels—or have their premiums increase by $50 per month ($600 annually). ..Financial incentives, even negative ones, do seem to get people’s attention. A recent Mayo Clinic study of obese Mayo employees and dependents found that when money is involved, people do better at losing weight. Those with money at stake—either penalized $20 each month if they failed to meet their goals or offered $20 per month for meeting weight-loss goals—lost more weight than those with no money on the line.

Bloomberg Businessweek by Vanessa Wong

Tags: Bloomberg Businessweek, CVS Caremark, financial incentives, Finanical, health insurance, Health Policy, health screening, premium increase, Research