A Dutch health insurer will reimburse policyholders who consume Becel pro-active margarine, yogurt, and milk products that have been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol levels. By subsidizing better eating habits, VGZ, one of the largest insurers in the Netherlands, is hoping to prevent costly heart disease and decrease drug and hospital expenses. The company is offering to refund up to 40 euros ($54.41) a year to insureds who purchase the Unilever food products.
One in three Dutch people has heightened cholesterol, and 120,000 of VGZ's policyholders take medication to lower their cholesterol, at a cost of EUR35 million ($46.27 million) a year to the insurer. In addition, 6,100 of the company's policyholders underwent angioplasty or heart surgeries in 2003, at a cost of EUR57 million ($75.34 million). People over 40 years of age who lower their cholesterol intake by 15 percent also lower their chances of heart disease, by 50 percent, according to VGZ.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
