The White House said Obama "will direct the Office of Personnel Management to work with the Office of Health Reform, the National Economic Council, the Department of Labor, and the Office of Management and Budget to examine successful employer wellness and prevention practices that lower health care costs and improve employees’ health and to explore the feasibility of developing such a plan for federal employees and their workplaces.
"The president hopes that by encouraging more employers to adopt similar programs, we can improve the productivity of our workforce, delay or avoid many of the complications of chronic diseases, and slow medical cost growth," the statement said.
I think this may be the biggest cost cut in any healthcare plan. If Americans didn't eat so much crap, didn't smoke, and actually exercised something other then their remote control hand then healthcare costs will drop considerably.
This would be especially true if your workplace pro-rated your health insurance based on your fitness level. So the company will pay 100% of your healthcare costs if you can run a mile in a certain period of time depending on your age. Kind of like how the Armed Services does it. I would train like I was running the marathon if my company did that.
I think this would be an interesting use of government money as well. Have the government give companies tax breaks to be used to install a health and wellness plan approved by the Department of Health. They would then get a "healthy company" seal of approval that would qualify them for a lower tax rate.
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