Monday, September 29, 2014 | 6:00 a.m. CDT; updated 7:09 a.m. CDT, Monday, September 29, 2014

COLUMBIA Marcia Flesner sat in the back of a town hall meeting on a Friday, listening to a University of Missouri System human resource employee talk about the changes tosystemwide benefits.

Flesnerhas worked at MU for 15 years and is covered by the preferred provider organization health plan. She's in her 60s and has medical problems, so the plan's low deductible and high premiums felt like her best choice.

Wellness incentives offer more money

The UM System is pushing a revamped wellness incentive program that offers a wider range of options and more financial incentives.

The program has two parts. The first, Educate Yourself, is a wellness pledge, which can be taken online and states that the employee will:

That is followed by an online health questionnaire and finally a finger-prick biometric reading. Those alone can add $150 to an employee's paycheck.

Invest in Yourself, the second part, operates on a points system. An employee can earn points several ways, including:

Earning 300 points nets an additional $300. At one recent town hall meeting, an employee asked about how Total Rewards will monitor things like tobacco use or listening to relaxing recordings. It's a question Kelli Holland, manager for communications and training at Total Rewards,had heard at a previous meeting with employees. She smiled.

"It's on the honor system," she said.

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Prices for new UM System health care plan raise questions