CVS presses workers for medical information

It's an intriguing question, Baron.

Aside from the stories in the newspapers that CVS got caught lying, which will likely lead to some of its customers deciding to shop elsewhere, and the negative effect on the stock price, which will piss off shareholders, who might decide to hold management accountable. ... oh, and the lawsuits from its employees, which will put the company at risk of a lot of civil liability and monetary damages. ... well, aside from those things, yeah, why not lie and risk the consequences of getting caught?

 

I'm not following you, Boom.

 

Who said CVS was doing anything novel?

I was responding to these posts suggesting that CVS is lying when it says that it is using a third-party administrator and that it won't have access to its employees' health records.

You can't tell your employees they can have health insurance at a lower rate if they submit to these exams and pass along the results, and ensure them that the the company will never have access to the results. ... and then turn around and GET access to the results.

If you do that, and get caught:

1) You have a serious lawsuit on your hands from the employees that you defrauded.
2) A host of problems with the Federal government regarding your labor practices (at least I would imagine so).
3) A giant PR headache that is ultimately going to hurt your brand.

 

When you administer a health insurance plan, they don't go person-by-person, try to determine that person's risk factor, and then charge a variable rate. They charge a group rate, based on the size of your group.

What CVS is facing is that the provider of their insurance is telling the company that it will charge them less if they can get employees to go through biometric health screenings, so they can take the results and devise wellness plans that might reduce the overall risk for the group.

In the past, CVS tried not to use a stick and make it into a carrot instead, by offering a discount if you went through a health screening. That didn't induce enough people. Premiums are hitting the company hard, so apparently they decided to make it into more of a stick, by turning it from a discount if you do participate to a penalty if you don't participate.