BIGMAN131307
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"Brits to get paid for losing weight"
Overweight Brits may soon find that shedding extra pounds would benefit their wallets as well as their waistlines. The UK public health service, the NHS, wants to encourage companies to reward employees who lose excess weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Dubbed the 'pounds for pounds' program by Britain's biggest-selling newspaper The Sun, the initiative is part of a plan to tackle an NHS funding shortfall that is forecast to hit £30 billion ($48 billion) by 2020.
NHS executives plan to ask the cash-strapped government for £8 billion, but the rest will have to come from savings, including reducing spending on weight-related illness. "Put bluntly, as the nation's waistline keeps piling on the pounds, we're piling on billions of pounds in future taxes just to pay for preventable illnesses," the NHS said.
Almost two thirds of English adults are overweight or obese, with low income groups worst affected, according to official data. Only a handful of countries, including the U.S., Mexico and Australia have higher obesity rates.
Employees who manage to curb their unhealthy habits could be offered cash, shopping vouchers or prizes. The NHS declined to comment on the likely size of the incentives, but said some of the funding could come from taxpayers.
Obese people are more at risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, degenerative joint diseases and some cancers, according to the World Health Organization.
The NHS proposal -- which comes about six months before the U.K. election -- follows similar efforts by companies in the U.S. to encourage their workers to get fit.............
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/brits-paid-losing-weight-112200679.html
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What do you think? Do you think this will work? Would you be willing to get fit, and stay fit to get bonus pay/gifts from your employer?
IMHO this has been long time coming. Law Enforcement has done this for years. When the patrol cops got too heavy they'd loose their cruisers or motors. Then they would have to walk a beat until they earned them back. The cops needed to loose the weight.
**Yes I know they are not the best example, lol**
But would this be a good incentive to stay healthy?