Wellness programs at work help promote the consumer driven health care trend

Wellness programs at work help promote the consumer driven health care trend.
“As included in latest batch of the ongoing (never-ending?) PPACA rollout, the Department of Labor issued employer guidance just before the holidays:
In short, “Specifically, these proposed regulations would increase the maximum permissible reward under a health-contingent wellness program offered in connection with a group health plan (and any related health insurance coverage) from 20 percent to 30 percent of the cost of coverage. The proposed regulations would further increase the maximum permissible reward to 50 percent for wellness programs designed to prevent or reduce tobacco use. These regulations also include other proposed clarifications regarding the reasonable design of health-contingent wellness programs and the reasonable alternatives they must offer in order to avoid prohibited discrimination.”
The Affordable Care Act gives “employers much more freedom and authority to start dealing with their own health care costs at their sources: with employees themselves. This should also rev up the engine on an already accelerating consumer-driven health care market.”
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