The Eat Healthy Rebate

Some forward-thinking Wisconsin HMOs (health maintenance organizations) are encouraging their members to eat healthy with financial incentives. Four Madison-based HMOs have teamed up with the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition to offer rebates to insurance policy holders who purchase shares in CSA farms,which supply members with fresh produce all summer long.

Like HMO-sponsored discounts on gym memberships, the Eat Healthy Rebate recognizes that it costs insurance companies less money when policy holders make healthful lifestyle choices. (The rebate applies only to produce shares, not meat or dairy). In the programs first year, more than 970 people applied for the rebate, and nearly half of them had never joined a CSA farm before.