Viewpoint: Your Employer's Wellness Program Is Bad For Your Health

By Al Lewis and Vik Khanna

Have you noticed that our employers are taking ever more interest in our "wellness" and general health? It started with weight loss classes. Next it was paying us to complete very personal forms. And now, it's blood screenings with threats of forfeiting an average of $521 a year, according to the National Business Group on Health if we don't comply.

Encouraged by the Affordable Care Act, our employers have started –- there's no other way to put this – "playing doctor." But it turns out there is a reason real doctors go to medical school -- to learn real medicine. Most employers know so little about real medicine that if, instead of your own human resource (HR) department, your own physician dispensed this advice, he or she could lose their license. If you value your health, you should ignore much of what these programs tell you, beyond giving up smoking, eating better, and exercising more.