In a 2009 RetailWire poll, the majority of respondents (53 percent) were against employers being able to mandate medical tests or changes in behavior as a requirement for being on their company health insurance plan. Many employers, it appears, have a different take.
According to a Kaiser Health News report on the USA Today website, more employers are requiring employees to go for a medical evaluation before determining how much the individual worker will have to pay for coverage.
For those who take good care of themselves and don't smoke or have issues with blood pressure or cholesterol, the savings can reach from the hundreds to thousands of dollars a year, depending on the plan.
While some see test requirements as an invasion of privacy and others question whether these types of programs have any role in improving health or substantially reining in costs, there's no doubt that more and more companies are going in this direction.
Fifty-four percent of employers with health plans now require some type of screening to determine how much an employee pays. This is up from 49 percent in 2010, according to Aon Health.
Most plans, up until now at least, have tested workers but not family members. According to Aon's research, 57 percent of employers plan to add incentives for others covered under its plan who undergo pre-testing within the next three to five years.
"A lot of costs come from spouses, but only 29 percent had incentives for spouses," Cathy Tripp, a senior vice president at Aon, told Kaiser Health News.