Reward Healthy People - Lamb

12.00.00am GMT Sat 17th Jan 2009

Norman Lamb has today called for a new system of healthcare in which patients should receive rewards such as free Eurostar tickets for improving their health. The Liberal Democrat health spokesman was addressing the British Medical Association in London.

Mr Lamb called for incentives to help relieve some of the burden on the health system as it presently stands. He noted one of the problems in changing the behaviour of people is that the instant gratification of smoking, for example, is much stronger than the incentive of better health many years down the line.

While he was not advocating an insurance-based system, he hinted that there could be benefits to the operations of a South African company which currently rewards patients who turn up for screening, or took part in exercise. They secured points, and if they hit a threshold gained a reward, such as a reduced premium for the following year.

"It could be something like a free trip in Eurostar to Paris," Lamb said. "Don't dismiss it. We have to think about how to engage people, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and how to provide a reward earlier than not dying of lung cancer."

He added: "What the evidence shows from these insurance-based schemes is that several years down the line claims go down because people are staying healthier. If there is evidence there that those sorts of incentives are changing behaviour, surely we should look at how this can work in a tax-financed system."