CVS Employee Policy – Weigh In or Pay Monthly Fine
Carol Keough March 26, 2013Employer CVS’s new policy for its employees using the company health insurance is that they see a physician for a health screening disclosing their weight, height, BMI and other health info or face a $50/monthly penalty ($600/year). Although wellness programs have been around for awhile, this sheds new light on how an employer is using a penalty to encourage healthy living.
In order to protect themselves from issues with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other health information disclosure that would be cause for discrimination of certain “unhealthy” workers, CVS appears to have included in the policy that the health information be reported to a third party restricting any CVS workers/supervisors access to any specific employee’s health information from these health screenings. This could become more and more of a new trend among employers who are facing the financial responsibilty of health care for employees that are not taking the best care of their health.