By JAAN SIDOROV

There’s an adage that, except for their tax revenue, American business is something the left loves to hate. And who can blame them, what with executive compensation, minimum wage and overseas job outsourcing powering the left wing’s ascent faster than corporate gunships in a greedy search of Avatar movie unobtainium? Being the principal source of health insurance for their employees hasn’t helped the liberals’ view of American business either, not only because it gets in the way of their cherished public option, but because their constituents’ benefits have been squeezed by the specter of an unholy alliance with managed care over caps, deductibles, co-insurance and co-pays.

So when it came out that the Senate’s proposed health reform legislation would increase employers’ and insurers’ ability to incentivize employees’ participation in worksite-based health promotion activities, progressives zeroed on it  like Air Force One on a Massachusetts political rescue mission. Believing that any use of any financial rewards is just plain wrong, opponents have cast incentives as penalties on those who don’t participate in workplace wellness programs – a sneaky, indirect and backdoor way of making the sicker pay more for their health insurance.

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