Studies have shown that individuals take an active role in practicing healthy lifestyle choices and thereby reduce their chances of needing medical care for chronic diseases. For example, a recent study in Europe found that older people who adopted a "Mediterranean diet," emphasizing lean meat and vegetables, and followed a moderate exercise program, had half the mortality rate of older people older adults not following this plan ("Healthy Diet, Lifestyle...", 2004). It is clear that preventive care and personal responsibility in lifestyle choices can significantly reduce health care costs. Therefore, a health care cost allocation plan must incentivize individuals to take responsibility for their health. Many American companies realize the benefits of encouraging employee participation in health care planning. now health coverage plans that pay a fixed amount to insurance companies. These plans would require employees to take a more active role in choosing how that money would be spent and would introduce a greater number of plans and services. insurers to choose from than is currently the case (Karash, 2004). This would help businesses have more freedom and impose greater health care accountability on businesses.