"We'll pay you $3/day to stay healthy, and that's our final offer."

[Nords]

Wharton reports the latest research on persuading healthcare consumers to behave in their own best interests:
One Way to Lower Health Costs: Pay People to Be Healthy - Knowledge@Wharton

Quote:

A smoking-cessation study led by Volpp, "Financial Incentives for Smoking Cessation," published in the New England Journal of Medicine and conducted among employees at General Electric, found that 9.4% of smokers who were offered $750 in incentives to quit smoking were able to remain smoke free for 18 months, compared with just 3.6% of smokers who tried to quit without financial incentive. Another Volpp-led study, "Financial Incentives for Weight Loss," published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that dieters who could earn money by loosing weight lost more pounds more quickly than those who weren't offered a monetary reward. And a small preliminary study of patients who regularly forgot to take their medication, titled "A Test of Financial Incentives to Improve Warfarin Adherence," found that the chance to win an average of $3 per day in a daily lottery pushed many of them to remember to take the daily dose.

Of course it turned out to be a little more complicated than just cutting checks...

Quote:

Volpp's studies draw heavily on lessons from behavioral economics: First, research shows that small rewards and punishments have greater impact if they occur immediately. Second, people are often motivated by experience of rewards in the past, the prospect of rewards in the future, and the possibility of receiving a large reward. Third, when making decisions, most people try to avoid regret, so they will be motivated to take action if it helps prevent a loss.

[freebird5825]

So what is the going rate for daily yogurt and fresh fruit consumption?
50 cents per banana, 10 cents per apple, and 1 cent per seedless grape?

Interesting article...TY

[Bestwifeever]

I'm up for any study that pays me to do something I should be doing anyway. Where do I sign up?

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever I'm up for any study that pays me to do something I should be doing anyway. Where do I sign up?

Nah...it's gonna cost 'em more than that if they want me to give up bbq...

[ziggy29]

Okay, there are the incentives for ending unhealthy behavior, now where are the ongoing rewards for those who have already been doing all the right things? Or is this the public health equivalent of TARP -- throw money at people who do the wrong things so those doing it right all along can subsidize them?

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 Okay, there are the incentives for ending unhealthy behavior, now where are the ongoing rewards for those who have already been doing all the right things? Or is this the public health equivalent of ....

Cash for Clunkers?

Hey, we will give you money to buy a new car if you previously bought a gas hog. But, if you did the "right thing" and bought something with decent mileage back then, well.... No soup for you!

-ERD50