HOW WORK HELPED ME DOWNSIZE

H E A L T H P O L I C Y WEIGHT-LOSS PROGRAMS

SEATTLE • Tony Seeley knew he was in trouble the day his doctor told him he had the body of a healthy 62-year-old man.

“ Which is nice if you’re 63,” Mr. Seeley said. “But I was 39.”

For years, Mr. Seeley struggled with all the familiar weight loss themes: fad diets, bad eating habits, discouragement. But not long after that day at his doctor’s office, Mr. Seeley found his breakthrough thanks to an unlikely partner: his boss.

“It was a revelation,” Mr. Seeley said. “I lost 130 pounds and I did it in 10 months.”

Mr. Seeley was among nearly 800 Microsoft Corp. employees who have shed about 26,000 pounds through an exceptionally intensive weight management program offered by the company.

While Microsoft takes the benefit to unusually extended levels, health policy insiders say a trend is emerging among employers and insurers to offer compreh e n s i v e weight mana g e m e n t p r o g r a m s , even as both sides scramble to trim other benefits to slow the double-digit growth in health care costs.

We’re not talking gym memberships or diet clubs. These are long-term, doctor-driven, multifaceted programs for the seriously overweight or obese that can run $10,000 or more and sometimes lead to gastric-bypass surgery.

Microsoft was among the first companies to roll out such a program, starting with smaller pilot groups in 1999. Early last year, Starbucks Corp. began offering a package to its workers in the Puget Sound area.

The programs are similar at both companies: integration of a fitness regimen with dietary and psychological counselling, all the while under the oversight of a medical doctor trained in weight loss management.

Microsoft and Starbucks have both found pay-offs for their companies’ bottom lines. Both cap lifetime benefits and offer them only to employees, partners and dependants who meet certain obesity and health condition criteria.

Both companies have contracts with the same clinic group, although Microsoft has since added a second. Both require workers to pitch in 20% of the costs.

“ You give them a cheque for $3,500 and they give you a plastic water bottle,” said Mr. Seeley, a program manager. “ Ten months later, I’m running 5K runs downtown Seattle. I would have paid $20,000 out of my own pocket to do this program.”

The key? An exercise regime in a gym friendly to the overweight, dietary advice that revolutionized his understanding of food — and support services that removed guilt. “ You find out you’re not a freak and you’re not weird and everyone else is having the same frustrations,” Mr. Seeley said of the program he joined two years ago.

Last month, insurer Premera Blue Cross unveiled a more moderate menu of options for employers to consider as add-ons. Aetna offers comprehensive “custom” products to large businesses willing to pay for them, and began broad offerings of a slimmer “tiered” package of

weight management

benefits earlier this

year.

Microsoft recently calculated that 774

participants

from July,

2003, to August, 2004,

lost an average

of roughly 9%

of their weight,

said Tom McPherson, senior benefits

manager for Microsoft.

Geoff Thomas, a Microsoft technical support analyst, credits his weight loss for eliminating his gruelling migraines — dramatically cutting his sick days and improving his productivity. In recent years, Mr. Thomas dropped from more than 480 pounds to a low of 280.

Mr. Thomas has taken up trail riding on his bicycle, hockey and in-line skating. “I used to pretty much do nothing,” said Mr. Thomas, whose social life was largely limited to science fiction and other television programs. As soon as he heals from an injury, Mr. Thomas said, he plans to resume teaching skating.

At Starbucks, 41 participants have seen the program through, said Annette King, director of benefits for the company. On average, the participants lost about 20 pounds.

Mr. McPherson said it’s only a matter of time before other companies see the evidence they need to jump in.

“ It’s very difficult once you roll out a benefit to roll it back, so I think a companies are waiting,” he said.

The New York Times