Health Care Incentives Pay You to Live Healthy, Save Money

Health Care Incentives Pay You to Live Healthy, Save Money

Aug 20 2015

Nearly 90 percent of Americans participate in some type of rewards program, according to BusinessWeek.

In fact, you probably have at least one membership card in your wallet right now, whether it’s for your local car wash, favorite restaurant, hairdresser/barber or even your pharmacy. Businesses are often encouraging patrons to join these programs and reap the rewards.

Rewards programs span industries – fashion, travel, food and service, and now health care. And, they’re successful because they are backed by science. It is the idea of modifying behavior to receive positive reinforcement. Or, in the case of rewards, encouraging repeat behaviors or purchases through a system of incentives.

The health care sector is finally taking notice of this effective marketing tool.

In the health care industry, this tool has been predominantly seen as a way to inspire healthy behavior choices – incentivizing individuals for increased physical activity, healthier food choices, receiving their preventive care as well as reducing unhealthy habits such as smoking. This method gained traction in 2004 when American Journal of Preventive Medicine published a study showing that rewarding individuals financially for preventive health behaviors was effective 73 percent of the time.

There are now tools available to help you research the cost for your health care procedures and choose the most cost effective/ fairly priced location.

But, as health care costs continue to rise, incentives are finding a new place in shifting how each of us shop in the health care marketplace. There are now tools available to help you research the cost for your health care procedures and choose the most cost effective/ fairly priced location. And, you might be surprised when you discover that prices vary quite significantly based on the procedure location, yet there is no correlation between the price and the quality of the service.

Using such tools could save you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in the long run and ultimately ensure that all health care services are offered at a fair price. The issue – this is a new option to all of us and we aren’t used to having the ability to compare prices in the health care industry.

Therefore, implementing a rewards system could be an effective mechanism to help you get in the habit of checking the price of health care procedures, before you buy.  

Priority Health is the first health insurance company to offer a program of this kind in Michigan, encouraging members to research the cost of non-emergency health procedures using its Cost Estimator tool.

Priority Health - Transparency - Health Care Incentives - Rewards 2

Those who select a service that is in line with the fair market value price will be rewarded with a gift card for between $50 and $200.

This is a strong addition to the preventive health and healthy choice rewards program the company already has in effect.

The company hopes that by rewarding people for making health choices and being savvy shoppers when selecting health care services, their actions will drive down health care costs and decrease the number of Americans with chronic illness.

For you, it just means more money in your pocket for making healthy, economic decisions for you and your family – it’s a win, win.