Posts Tagged ‘financial incentives’

Can Money Prompt Weight Loss? Should It?

June 18, 2024 — In JAMA Pediatrics yesterday, a new RCT tells us that promising money to adolescents with severe obesity can prompt weight loss with meal replacements. Every teen in this study received free pre-portioned and calorie-controlled meals. But half of them received a $20 gift card for every 0.5% they lost from their body weight at the […]

JAMA: Handing Out Anti-Obesity Cash – Why Not?

May 16, 2024 — We’re going to file this under “C” – for cluelessness. A new study in JAMA adds to the list of wellness strategies from people who have little understanding of obesity as a chronic disease. People who don’t understand that one-and-done weight loss does little to resolve the problem. The well-intended concept here is to pay […]

Is It Possible to Fix the Hate in Literature?

February 23, 2023 — It’s interesting to watch people get riled up about the censorship of Roald Dahl. The Roald Dahl Story Company owns the rights to his books and has worked with Puffin Books to edit out offensive words so “Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today.” In collaboration with Inclusive Minds, […]

Is Health or Greed Driving Health Systems?

January 15, 2023 — Workers at the largest health system in the U.S., HCA, this week accused the system of putting profits ahead of patient care and health. We regularly hear from obesity care providers about insurers using lame excuses to deny coverage for obesity meds or surgery for lame reasons. This happens even when the health plan covers […]

Systemic Challenges for Care in Healthcare

November 19, 2022 — Is healthcare indeed a place where a person can expect to receive genuine care? Or is the care in healthcare more of an abstract concept than something a patient might experience? A recent paper in Health Expectations tells us that most patients define a caring professional quite simply. They listen attentively. That was the response […]

Wellness Penalty/Incentives Lose Again in Court

December 23, 2017 — They’re dead for now. Those godawful coercive wellness programs will be illegal on January 1, 2019, thanks to a new court ruling this week. A judge finally threw out EEOC rules that allowed companies to impose big penalties on employees who don’t step on the scale and lose weight. Some employers called them incentives. But […]