Think plan members who live a healthy lifestyle—exercise, eat right, don’t smoke—should pay less for their health benefits plans?

Representatives from the sanofi-aventis advisory board presented their thoughts on this issue as well as the results of the sanofi-aventis Healthcare Survey 2008 and how plan sponsors should respond at the CPBI Forum 2008 Wednesday in Toronto.

“It certainly is a brave way to think about how you might progress in Canada,” said John McGrath, principal, with Mercer. “Certainly in the States they have these type of models. I think it’s a great idea, [but] I don’t know just how they could set it up that way.”

“It’s a bit of a slippery slope, too,” said Wendy Bott, manager, health and welfare administration, with Buck Consultants. She gave the example of obesity, stating that an employer wouldn’t necessarily know what’s driving an employee’s obesity. “There could be underlying medical issues that you’re not aware of. It’s dangerous territory to tread into if you ever start slicing and dicing your rates to recognize those kinds of things and who participates and who doesn’t.”

Employers have to be mindful of lining up with organizational culture, said Marilee Mark, vice-president, marketing, group benefits, with Manulife Financial, and this can come out in a couple of ways.

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“We’re seeing more where you’re getting greater contributions to health care spending accounts if you participate or agree to participate or do your health risk assessment,” she said. “So that starts to get people engaged a little bit.”

Another is through health coaching or disease management programs. As these programs make their way into Canada, said Mark, then you might have employees participating in a program who qualify for a different co-insurance or benefit level based on the fact that they have identified the risk factors and agreed to take action. “Then what you’re doing is you’re not penalizing the person who happens to have bad genes,” she said. “You’re encouraging them, helping them go down the path of what they can do to be healthier.”

Interestingly, the 2005 and 2006 sanofi-aventis surveys asked plan members about this issue. Of those respondents trying to remain healthy, when forced to choose between whether they should pay less than someone choosing not to exercise, eat right, etc., it was split down the middle. Specifically, of the non-smokers, for example, 70% believed they should pay less for their coverage.

To download the 2008 survey, click here.

For more stories from the annual conference, click here to visit our special online section, CPBI Forum 2008.

To comment on this story email brooke.smith@rci.rogers.com.