PEIA to Offer Wellness Discounts
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Public Employees Insurance Agency insurees will soon be able to claim premium discounts by executing living wills and by maintaining healthy lifestyles, under new program options adopted Wednesday by the PEIA Finance Board.
Particulars of the wellness incentive will be worked out over the next few months, but PEIA Executive Director Ted Cheatham said the first step for participants will be to undergo a PEIA-paid health check that will include measuring blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood glucose and waist circumference.
Participants whose measures fall into the healthy "green zone" would receive a premium discount, while participants who are overweight, have high blood pressure or other risk factors would have one year to "engage" in PEIA wellness programs to improve those numbers, he said.
"No one has to do this," Cheatham said. "They just won't be eligible for the discount incentive if they don't."
Details of the plan will have to be worked out in anticipation of its intended 2011 launch. Those details include determining the amount of premium discounts for healthy insurees, as well as determining what waist circumferences will fall within the acceptable range, Cheatham said.
"This is not just about waist circumference," he noted.
Gov. Joe Manchin first proposed that PEIA offer wellness incentives back in October, citing the announcement by North Carolina's public employee health insurance plan to begin charging higher premiums for overweight employees. Critics derided the proposal as a "fat tax."
PEIA currently offers $25 a month premium discounts to insurees who verify they do not use tobacco products.
Cheatham said PEIA also offers in-house programs to promote healthy lifestyles as a way to reduce health care costs.
Board member Bill Ihlenfeld noted there is benefit just in getting insurees to check their weight, blood pressure, and other health indicators.
"Isn't there an additional benefit in knowing these numbers in that maybe it will save their lives?" he said.
Board members also adopted a proposal to provide premium discounts to insurees who verify they have executed living wills with advance directives for end-of-life care.
Cheatham said previously the intent of the proposal is to encourage insurees to think about their wishes for end-of-life care, not to require that they specifically refuse extraordinary treatment measures in their living wills.
Ihlenfeld stressed that the contents of living wills will be private, and will not be accessible by PEIA.
Meanwhile, the board rejected a controversial proposal to impose a $50-a-month penalty on insurees who carry their spouse on the coverage, if the spouse has health insurance available from his or her employer.
The spousal penalty was estimated to save PEIA about $5 million a year, although PEIA officials admitted there is no way to accurately determine how many spouses would opt out of PEIA if the penalty were imposed.
"Some spouses may indeed be shifting costs to us by taking our policy," Cheatham said.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
