The carrot or the stick — a healthy diet and good exercise are vital to a productive work force, but getting employees to live healthily often takes some sort of penalty or incentive.

“CareFirst employees can get increased contributions to their premiums or other benefits by taking an online screening tool or getting a blood test regularly,” said Mike Sullivan, spokesman for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, an insurer serving Maryland, Washington, D.C., and parts of Virginia. “This year we had a bill passed to allow us to offer better incentives. The previous law in Maryland limited this type of incentive to $9.97.”

Nationwide, health care costs more than $6,500 per person each year, accounting for 16 percent of the U.S. economy, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average employee has seen premiums grow 7.7 percent to 13.9 percent each year since 2000, while wages have increased 3 to 4 percent.

Penalizing smoking or obese employees with higher premiums can hurt morale, though, experts say. Instead, many local companies like Practice Management Partners, a Hunt Valley medical billing company, offer incentives for healthier living, in hopes they eventually cut costs.

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“We currently offer Weight Watchers at work for our employees, and we have an on-site fitness center,” human resources manager Venus Windmiller said. “We’re actually doing incentives right now for our employees who are in Weight Watchers. We’re doing a ‘Biggest Loser’ program.”

Windmiller says it is hoped that a healthier, happier work force may save the company insurance costs and time lost to sickness or disability.

Controlling health care costs has become a nationwide obsession, from the doctor’s office to the corner office.

Since 1970, growth in health spending exceeded growth in the economy by an average of 2.5 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Insurance premiums rose 87 percent from 2000 to 2006, more than four times that of wages.

khille@baltimoreexaminer.com