It also turns out that wellness programs, despite well-publicized individual successes, often don’t lead to lower health care spending. A 2013 study headed by Jill Horwitz, a law professor at UCLA, rips away the movement’s economic underpinning. Randomized studies, according to the report, “raise doubts” that smokers and obese workers chalk up higher medical bills than others. While it is true that they are more likely to suffer from health problems, these tend to come later in life, when they’re off the corporate health plan and on Medicare. In fact, the greatest savings from wellness
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