| Members of a state-wide insurance system are facing an additional $500 deductible if they fail to register for their Healthy Tomorrows program during the current open enrollment period which ends May 15.
The carrier is also requiring the 80,000 insured to get a plan member physician.
Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) Director Ted Cheatham said
"There are a lot preventable diseases out there, high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, and we want to make people aware of that. We're asking them, this first year during open enrollment, to pick a primary care physician. Pick a doctor they can go to and start to manage their health."
During the second year of Healthy Tomorrows will require the participant to actually report their numbers when it comes to high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, while the third year requires getting those numbers to an acceptable healthy range.
PEIA may likely be responding to statistics that say West Virginians are the unhealthiest in the nation.
The acceptable levels established for the third year of the program is 140/90 for blood pressure, 125 for blood sugar and 245 for cholesterol.
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