U.S. Companies Increasingly Use Penalties To Push Employee Wellness Programs
Reuters reports that, among the two-thirds of large companies using wellness programs -- which were included in the health law -- almost a quarter are imposing financial penalties on employees who opt-out.
Reuters:
Coming Soon To A Workplace Near You: 'Wellness Or Else'
U.S. companies are increasingly penalizing workers who decline to join "wellness" programs, embracing an element of President Barack Obama's health care law that has raised questions about fairness in the workplace. (1/13)
In other health law implementation news -
The Associated Press:
New Tax Forms To Fill Out On Health Insurance Coverage
Be prepared for the tax man to get even more personal this year — with questions about your health insurance. For the first time, you’ll have to state whether you had health insurance, through an employer, one of the exchanges or purchased privately. And if you didn’t, you could face a penalty. (1/13)
Kaiser Health News:
Health-Law Test To Cut Readmissions Lacks Early Results
Kaiser Health News staff writer Jay Hancock reports: "Obama administration officials have warned that ambitious experiments run by the health law’s $10 billion innovation lab wouldn’t always be successful. Now there is evidence their caution was well placed. Only a small minority of community groups getting federal reimbursement to reduce expensive hospital readmissions produced significant results compared with those from sites that weren’t part of the $300 million program, according to partial, early results. The closely watched program is one of many tests to control costs and improve care being run by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which was created by the Affordable Care Act." (Hancock, 1/14)