Humana Inc. and
Weight Watchers International Inc. are teaming up to help employers attack the rising level of obesity and its health-related impacts.
Employees in Humana-managed, employer-sponsored health plans now have free and discounted access to Weight Watchers through an integrated wellness program built into their health plan, the first program of its kind, the two companies said in a
news release.
Plan members who want to lose weight can join Weight Watchers free for six months, "and at a significant discount thereafter," the release said. "Weight Watchers helps people adopt a healthier lifestyle that results in achieving and learning to maintain a healthy weight."
Remke Markets, a family-owned grocer with 12 locations in Kentucky and Ohio, is offering the program to its 900 employees.
“What I like about this program is that it actively connects people who want to get to a healthy weight with a trusted, well-known and effective program, and then helps make it affordable,” President Matthew Remke said. “The health risk that extra weight poses for our associates and their families is reason enough to want to attack the problem, but there are also serious consequences of an unhealthy workforce for an employer trying to compete in a tough marketplace.”