CVS Caremark is invoking a new policy requiring their employees to submit personal health information for insurance reasons, or pay a monthly fine.
The corporation’s 200,000 employees must undergo tests to determine body fat, height, weight, blood pressure and glucose and fasting lipid levels by May 1. Employees must send the information to WebMD Health Services Group, a partner with CVS Caremark, or they will be forced pay an extra $600 per year in insurance premiums. CVS Caremark will only pay for the blood screenings, body fat calculation and weight tests.
“We want to help our employees to be as healthy as they can be, which is why we decided to implement this plan,” CVS spokesperson Michael D’Angelis told The Daily Caller in an email. “In fact, we have been working for a number of years on ways they can improve their health through preventive measures.”
Patient Privacy Rights founder Deborah Peel told The Boston Herald these new policies are a concerted effort to rid the company of employees that are costing the company the most money relating to health insurance, now that Obamacare is trickling into full implementation.
“Rising health care costs are killing the economy, and businesses are terrified,” Peel said. “Now, we’re all in this terrible situation where employers are desperate to get rid of workers who have costly health conditions, like obesity and diabetes.”
These test will be required as a “health screening and wellness review so that colleagues know their key health metrics in order to take action to improve their numbers, if necessary,” according to the Rhode Island-based insurance and drugstore corporation.
“Our benefits program is evolving to help our colleagues take more responsibility for improving their health and managing health-associated costs,” D’Angelis said, adding that all information will be kept private.
Labor attorney Joshua Kersey told My Fox Tampa Bay that CVS will most likely avoid any lawsuits, as they do not require their employees to use their health insurance plan. Despite the extra monthly fee if employees fail to participate, CVS maintains these tests are voluntary. They require their employees to sign a form saying just that, too.
“There’s no chain of custody for health data,” Peel said, “so there’s no way to verify that they don’t really look at it.”
CVS employees will soon see if this new program is truly for their own good if their managers start trimming the fat for a healthier company.
