The Tories in Great Britain, recognizing the spiraling cost of healthcare suggest that the obese and smokers be denied treatment until they clean up their act. They suggest giving incentives, similar to frequent flier miles, for those who have or develop healthy lifestyles. This news coincides with a CNN story that focuses on two businesses that save money by either penalizing those with unhealthy lifestyles in the form of higher insurance premiums or rewarding those who are healthy with lower out of pocket costs. The firm that practices the rewards saw no premium increase when the average firm saw the prices rise by 8.8%.

My thoughts? The Tory plan has some merit, but it would have to be implemented in a somewhat forgiving manner, at least at the start. The plan of penalizing or rewarding an employee financially sounds great. A healthy person should not have to pay more to cover people who show an indifference to health. I’ll bet some habits will change when the wallet thins.