After the success of several trail programs, the British government announced that it will be using financial incentives to get its citizens to be healthier. They will be offering £50.00 vouchers (about $78 US dollars) that can be exchanged for healthy fruits and vegetables.
“We will be expanding programs that use financial incentives for healthy behavior where the evidence supports it,” said a Department of Health spokesman who did not want to be named, in line with government policy.
Critics of the program worry that health department funds would be better spend elsewhere, and that the government’s efforts aren’t enough to change people’s bad habits and reverse the obesity epidemic.
Similar trials that have been tested included paying people directly to lose weight. The British government commission the Weight Wins company to pilot a program in Kent where participants could earn as much as £425.00 (about $662) if they reached a goal weight and maintained it for at least two years. “If people drop out, they get nothing,” said Winton Rossiter, who designed the program. “And people hate giving up money even more than they like making it.”
Via Aol Health.
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