Safeway's Efforts To Cut Health Care Costs

Steven Burd, CEO of Safeway, has an interesting op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal explaining how his company has tackled the high cost of healthcare. Specifically, Burd's firm has set worker premiums based on each employee's behavior. In other words, if you smoke, or are obese, you can expect to pay more for your health care at Safeway. He's creating incentives for people to change their lifestyle so as to become healthier, thereby driving down the cost of care, particularly for chronic conditions. It's an approach worth further examination.