Lower Insurance Premiums or Higher Security Violations: Employee Wellness Reduction Programs

Every September, everyone in my department is up in arms about choosing next year's medical benefits. We work for a healthcare company and are often surprised by the high cost of healthcare.

So, a few years ago, a program was started to reduce yearly premiums. Each fall, employees are asked to go to a provider and have the followed information collected:

- BMI (body mass index)
- Weight
- Height
- Blood Pressure
- CBC (all basic laboratory bloodwork)

If an employee and spouse/domestic partner complete these studies, they can have reductions in their monthly premium costs. I am the only one in my department who refuses to do it. (Of course, my coworkers think I'm crazy and independently wealthy).

However, I have a valid reason for not participating in this. I do not know anything about the people who maintain this information.

As a woman, my BMI (along with weight) and basic bloodwork can reveal a LOT of personal information about me and I do not know who has this information or what happens to it after I'm given a discount.

I was reading a post on the privacyrights.org site regarding California laws regarding this subject. Basically, there are a few gaps in the law pertaining the vendors maintaining the information. This did not help my paranoia about this subject as I'm pretty sure other states may also have some of these gaps.

For me, the biggest problem I have is who's using this information after my employee determines "Well, Dorian Harris eats too much of the free donuts?"

Who's seeing and/or using my BMI? Or after open enrollment, then what? Where's it stored?

It is bad enough that healthcare providers sometimes do a lousy job of securing information that we have to give them but someone wants me to voluntarily submit my information to an unknown source?

Maybe my concern is completely unfounded, maybe I'm overracting or maybe I'm justified.

I'm sure the day will come when I am mandated to participate in this employee reduction program... Until then I'll keep paying the higher price financially and lower the risk for security issues.