Are you saying they'll hike everyone's cost by $500? Because in and of itself, whether the difference of $500 is called a "discount" for one group or a "penalty" for the other matters not a lick. (Kinda like the claim that my employer pays half my Social Security tax ... they pay out money, some comes to me and the rest to the SSA, whether they say it's all paid by me or all paid by the employer or any point in between.)
No...I’m sure it will be one or the other, most likely the other.
Now, it is a carrot, and a lot of people submit to it because they can save $500 a year. I have the choice, and I could save the money too. But I don’t, and I pay $500 a year more than someone who does.
What I think will happen is it will change at some point to a stick, where they will stop offering the “discount” and everyone will be paying the same, and change it to “We aren’t offering the discount anymore. But if you don’t do it as a standard matter of course, you will be charged $500 more than everyone else who does it.”
Basically, the test will be mandatory to get the normal rate, and you will pay a penalty for NOT doing it.
And it won’t stop there once it has started.
Do you walk five miles a day, yes or no? We have accepted methods you have to use to prove it, and if you don’t, there will be an additional penalty.
How about your daily caloric intake? Do you drink soda? Do you smoke cigarettes? How about taking drugs?
And so on.