The New York Times has a symposium on wellness incentive programs in insurance and health care. I argue that they’re worth a try:
In health care, as in so much else in modern life, money matters immensely. It matters for those who provide services to patients, as well as for those who consume them. We would have a better health care system today if public policy harnessed financial incentives in the right way — to produce higher quality care at a lower cost.
Alas, U.S. health care is awash in third-party payment arrangements that fundamentally distort decision-making and drive up costs. Public insurance and heavily tax-subsidized employer-provided coverage pay the bulk of the nation’s health care bills, which means consumers are largely insulated from the financial consequences of their choices, including the health care costs associated with unhealthy behavior.
Read the whole thing here.