c.e.o. of safeway corporation. i know that he's met with groups of republicans and democrats here in the congress. he said something very interesting. and i'm using numbers that i think approximate what he said. they may not be precise. but i believe he told us that there are between 45,000 and 50,000 employees at safeway corporation that are nonunion and he began a project with those 40,000 and 50,000 people in health care and now he's beginning to try to move that into the union contracts. here's the project. that company says to its employees, i want responsibility for four areas in exchange for health insurance. and we believe behavior is an important part of controlling health care costs. number one, if you have high blood pressure, we want you taking nodes control your high blood pressure. number two, if you have high cholesterol, we want you taking medicine to control your high cholesterol. and i believe he said the company is paying for that. number three, if you're smoking, you have to have stopped or be o

according to safeway c.e.o.'s their per capital health care costcosts have remained flat as those of most americans have risen by 40% since safeway implemented the wellness and prevention plan in 2005. the plan is reduced the health care costs for employees and their families by offering incentives to worker whose adopt healthier lifestyles. and the employee whose choose to participate in the plan are tested for tobacco usage, for healthy weight, and for their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. employees who pass the tests are given discounts. for example, if employees pass all four tests, the annual premiums are reduced by $780 for individual xs and $1,560 for employees and there are incentives for those who make progress. this helps to improve the health and quality of life of safeway workers. the company's obesity and smoking rates are sphnts% of the national -- are snent% of the national average and 76% want more incentives rewarding the healthy behavior. it is estimated if the united states adopted the a