Gift Cards Proposed as Health Incentive

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Feeling good? Go shopping. Democrats in the Minnesota state Senate want to give publicly insured patients $20 gift cards to stores such as Target as an incentive to follow their doctor’s orders.

Sen. Linda Berglin, who leads the health budget panel, is betting that it will pay off for the state to sink $1 million into incentives for diabetics who control their blood sugar and smokers who quit.

“It’s not a huge amount of money, but I think it’ll have a lot of impact,” said Berglin. “These quality guidelines are not reached simply by the doctor. There has to be the patient involved in it, too.”

Gov. Tim Pawlenty last year established the QCare program, which offers bonuses to health plans and providers that score well on treating costly chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Giving out gift cards might bring the state closer to achieving the QCare goals, Berglin said. The proposal would apply to patients covered by subsidized programs including the MinnesotaCare plan for the working poor.

It was unclear Wednesday whether there would be restrictions on what gift card recipients could buy with them.