Health Insurance Schemes in Brazil Are Offering Benefits to Clients Who Lose Weight

05/19/2015 - 10h19

Health insurance schemes in Brazil are offering reduced monthly payments and even prizes - such as laptops and cheap international travel - to clients who lose weight, take exercise and adopt healthy lifestyles.

Currently, there are nearly 1300 such health promotion and disease prevention programs, affecting 1.6 million people - a little more than 3% of total health insurance subscribers.

300 of these programs are offering rewards or bonuses such as reduced monthly payments of 10%, according to the National Supplementary Health Agency.

To access these benefits, clients need to attend sessions with the doctor, go to lectures and in some cases, undergo periodic health assessments.

The prevention of obesity and related conditions such as diabetes and hypertension is one of the main aims of the programs.

Data from Vigitel, a Ministry of Health study which monitors risk factors for health, shows that 67% of health insurance subscribers living in state capitals are overweight, while 42% are obese.

Research has shown than for each 1% reduction in body weight, arterial pressure and glucose levels, medical expenses fall by between US$83 and US$103 per person.

However, an assessment of 34 international studies concluded that while such incentives are successful in changing behavior in the short term, these positive effects usually disappear when the benefits are removed.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Pedro Amatuzzi/Código19/Folhapress
	Health insurance schemes are offering reduced monthly payments and even prizes to clients who adopt healthy lifestyles