July 3, 2016 — When perverse ideas about incentives for health fall apart, everyone can celebrate. Today we celebrate one that is losing support: penalizing employees for obesity. For several years now, certain elements of the wellness industry have been pushing the idea that obesity could be reversed by imposing financial penalties on employees who don’t weight what their employers say they […]
June 25, 2016 — At the 8th Annual Obesity Treatment and Prevention Conference in Philadelphia this week, Eileen Seeholzer described employers investing in the health and wellness of their workforces with integrity. She was quick to express concerns about the ethics and effectiveness of narrowly-focused programs with financial penalties and incentives based on BMI. But she moved on to say: […]
May 17, 2016 — New EEOC regs issued yesterday mark an important fork in the road to employee wellness. The regulations provide clarity for employers who want to impose penalties on people with chronic diseases in their wellness programs. Reactions to these rules could hardly be more diverse. You can find people who think employers should have an even bigger stick to wield in their […]
April 13, 2016 — It might be that U.S. business leaders are finally ready to take on obesity as a serious economic issue. At a workshop of the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions at the National Academies in Washington Tuesday, diverse leaders from business, government, and even the banking system made the case that obesity is standing in the way of having […]
March 14, 2016 — Believe it or not, “diet for dollars” at work is becoming a thing that some “wellness” industry entrepreneurs are pushing hard. Employee Benefit News just published tips for starting a diet-for-dollars program from a vendor of such things. David Roddenberry, co-founder of HealthyWage and a seller of cash incentive programs for weight loss, says that “pay […]
March 6, 2016 — The idea of your employer owning your health has been marching forward since the middle of the 20th century when employer-provided health insurance emerged as a response to labor unions and the fear of post-war inflation. By the mid-1960s, getting health insurance from your employer had become a standard benefit of employment that was nearly universal. […]
February 25, 2016 — Has the infatuation with incentive-based employer wellness programs “inadvertently put a target on the backs of employees who are dealing with obesity?” That’s the concern expressed recently by OAC Vice President James Zervios. He’s not alone in sounding an alarm about health discrimination. A new commentary in The Hill warns that penalties in wellness programs will promote […]
February 17, 2016 — The blurry line between accountability and punishment is quite important to long-term outcomes in obesity. The difference between the two is substantial, but easily confused. Where accountability empowers people, punishment does the opposite. Punishment is imposed. Accountability flows from engagement. Though people understand that punishment is an ineffective strategy for behavior change in obesity, the […]
February 10, 2016 — Flogging the limitations of Body Mass Index has become an easy sport. A new study in the International Journal of Obesity provides an excellent perspective on the problems with relying on BMI in isolation as an measure of health. Tomiyama and colleagues analyzed NHANES data for height, weight, and measures of cardiometabolic health, such as blood […]
February 7, 2016 — First it was employers. Now universities are joining the trend. Folks who want to enforce physical activity goals are increasingly looking to Fitbit and other activity trackers to serve as electronic leashes. Oral Roberts University now requires all freshmen to wear a Fitbit to prove they are meeting the school’s requirements for 10,000 daily steps […]
