Bright Idea: Rewards for Good Health

A growing number of companies offer employees incentives to improve their health by exercising, quitting smoking or controlling chronic conditions. Now one legislator wants the state of Minnesota to jump on that bandwagon, the Associated Press reports. Sen. Linda Berglin (D-Minn.) has proposed giving out $20 gift cards from retailers like Target to citizens with public health insurance who lose weight, control diabetes and the like. The $1 million proposal is designed to complement a year-old state program, known as the QCare program, that offers bonuses to health care providers and insurance plans that do a good job of controlling high-cost chronic conditions such as heart disease.