"Wellness," part 1
My employer announced a new wellness initiative at the end of last year. If we signed up for an exciting! new! wellness! screening opportunity, our insurance premiums would stay the same. Otherwise they would go up $300
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Ed actually works for our HMO, and they started out by making all their own employees do a wellness program, last year. Ed did the 10,000 steps program. This year, they "invited" the spouses and partners of employees to participate as well, which means they sent me a letter saying that if I didn't "voluntarily" participate they would double everyone's copay (they said it was a "discount" if I participated except, you know, it's not).
The funny thing is, if they had ACTUALLY invited me to ACTUALLY voluntarily participate I would have been happy to sign up because they give you a free pedometer when you do 10,000 Steps. And it's a pretty good, highly accurate one. Instead, I feel surly and resentful about it, and the questionnaire definitely did not improve my mood.
At least I didn't have to do a biometric screening.
Oh, and although I did check "yes" to the question about whether I was "ready to take action" to resolve my ongoing back problems, they offered me no actual options that related to my back problems. My wellness program options were 10,000 Steps, a stress-reduction program where I think they were going to send me e-mails suggesting that I engage in deep breathing, and a "healthy habits" one (which is the one Ed is doing this year).
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