It’s not easy staying healthy and fit, but it is cheaper than the alternative. The CDC says obese people pay almost $1500 more in health costs each year. Those with diabetes face more than double the health care costs of those without the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association .
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Employers are also shouldering this burden, with higher healthcare costs and lost productivity. That’s why, by next year, about 8 out of 10 larger companies will be paying their employees to get healthy.
“We’re heavier, we’re more sedentary, we don’t eat right, so employers put programs in place to get people to hopefully change their behavior, become healthier, and over time, spend less of their money on health care, and less of the company’s money on health care,” says Jim Winkler, AON Hewitt’s Health Management Practice Leader.
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