Posts Tagged ‘employee health & wellness’
Want to REALLY Lower Your Healthcare Costs?
Healthcare costs are higher than ever and the increased prices have forced many small businesses into bankruptcy. So what is the solution to lowering healthcare costs? Take the steps to encourage your employees to make better lifestyle choices. As a small biz, one of the things you can do is acknowledge the health problems affecting your employees and implement programs to solve them.
One of the most serious public health problems, and the leading cause of preventable death, is obesity. It also costs the United States $147 billion a year in healthcare. Your small biz can help to motivate your employees to exercise by offering discounted gym memberships, hosting company run/walks or implementing exercise programs. Yo could also bring in a nutritionist or help bring in healthy food options in the cafeteria or vending machines.
Healthy Americans may account for only 8 percent of the population, but these 24 million people are the answer to saving America billions of dollars on unnecessary health care expenditures each year. More than 40% of premature deaths in the U.S. are a result of unhealthy behaviors like obesity and smoking. These habits are costing Americans $100 billion to $150 billion a year!
Smokers have cost the U.S. $96 billion in healthcare this year. Almost 21 percent of Americans smoke, which is more than 45 million people. Therefore, employers should encourage their staff to quit smoking by offering incentive programs or access to counselors. Many companies are taking more extreme measures by implementing a tobacco-free workplace.
Lastly, be aware that the current economy may have an increased affect on your employee’s stress levels. This can lead to smoking or unhealthy eating. Make sure to continue positively reinforcing your employees and let them know exercise is a great way to alleviate stress. By keeping employees healthy, businesses can reduce healthcare costs, which in turn will impact their bottom-line.
Healthcare Reform is a Winner for Wellness. Really?
It’s official. President Obama signed “our” new health care bill last week, and now it’s law. It’s supposed to “explore” how wellness concepts can be integrated into federal policy for agriculture, transportation, education and other areas announced that provisions in the health care reform bill will address the underlying causes of poor health habits. The new bill is also supposed to increase the number of businesses that offer wellness programs, increase the number of employees who participate, more effectively track programs, and improve overall program effectiveness.
In addition, there a six specific provisions in the bill that “directly relate” to worksite wellness programs:
- Development of a national health promotion plan
- Enhance health promotion research
- Technical assistance to enhance evaluation of workplace health promotion programs
- Regular, periodic surveys on workplace health promotion relevance and components
- Grants to pay a portion of the cost of comprehensive workplace health promotion programs for small employers
- Allowing employers to offer employees a premium discount of up to 30% for positive lifestyle practices or participation in health promotion programs
There are many “leading experts” in my field that think these provisions are the best thing to happen to the field of health promotion since the invention of “sliced whole wheat multigrain bread.” Well, I personally wouldn’t go that far. Forget making sense of the new 2,400-page health care law. Try interpreting just these new provisions, how they will be implemented and when they will begin.
We’ll let’s start with the easy part first. The Kaiser Family Foundation has a pretty good summary on their website. Its broken down the bill in an easy-to-read time-line format. In a nut-shell, here it is:
- Small businesses will be able to receive federal grants to start wellness programs. The grants will be available for up to five years. (Starting in 2011)
- A new National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council will be formed to develop a national health improvement strategy. (Starting in 2011)
- Chain restaurants and vending machines that sell food must disclose nutritional information. (Starting in 2011)
- Employers will be able to offer employees who participate in wellness programs up to a 30% discount on the cost of insurance coverage. (Starting in 2014)
- A 10-state pilot program will allow participating states test the efficacy of offering similar rewards in the individual insurance market. (Starting in 2014)
Now, here’s where it gets confusing. As you can see, out of the six, only three of the provisions have actually been mentioned. Let’s see how easy it will be to sign-up for those grants next year. While I am at it, why only keep the availability of the grants for 5 years? How about keep them indefinitely? I’ll keep you updated on the grant-process.
Next, there are so many companies, including us, that already provide wellness programs that include strategies for implementing, maintaining and evaluating the success of those wellness programs.
I understand that having information on the “foods” we eat makes us “more informed” – I say that grinning – but how much “nutrition” info can you put on a bag of Cheetos or on a Triple-meat-with-cheese? I’m just saying…
HIPAA already allows for a 20% discount on those who are participating in a “bonafide” wellness program. You can read more about how the HIPAA rules affect your small biz wellness program. Finally, we’ll have to wait and see how successful this new “pilot-program” will be.
As I wrote about earlier, it would have been great if they would have included the Healthy Workforce Act or at least specific provisions from these bill. In the next coming weeks, I’m going to do my best to better explain what these 6 provisions actually mean.
Employee Wellness Likely to Survive Battle Over Health Care Reform
Okay, the current healthcare reform legislation may have slowed down, but it’s not over yet. Whether its tort reform, the ability to buy your insurance from another state, or an over-haul on medicare, one definite area that is being looked at by employers is employee - wellness and prevention. This issue is one that will be more on everyone’s radar because it consistently draws bipartisan support.
As we covered in an earlier post, the Healthy Workforce Act, written by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would give you an annual $200 tax credit for each of the first 200 employees participating in your small biz wellness program and $100 for each additional employee.
In addition, the Partnership for Prevention found that worksite wellness produced an average savings-to-cost ratio of $5.81 to $1. The programs also reduced annual health costs by an average of 26 percent, reduced absenteeism by 27 percent, and reduced workers compensation and disability claim costs by 32 percent.
Comprehensive wellness programs usually end up being cost neutral in year one. Year two is when you start seeing return on investment, and by the time you get to three years, things really start kicking in and you really do see ROI.
We are still waiting to hear whether or not this proposed billed makes its way to the President’s desk, but in the mean while think about this:
- An estimated 142 million Americans are overweight or obese, this represents 66 percent of the adult population.
- Health care costs in the United States doubled from 1990 to 2001 and are expected to double again by 2012.
- Chronic illnesses affect more than a third of working-age Americans and the costs associated with chronic diseases account for approximately 75 percent of the nation’s annual health care costs.
- Obesity costs American companies $225.8 billion per year in health related productivity losses. An obese employee costs the employer an additional $460-$2,500 in medical expenditures and absenteeism annually.
- The workplace environment is a significant target for obesity prevention efforts. Over 130 million Americans are employed across the United States and spend a significant part of their day at work. Sedentary jobs have increased 83 percent since 1950.
- The Healthy Workforce Act provides employers with the means to implement evidence-based strategies for improving the health of workers by addressing causes of chronic disease including obesity, physical inactivity and tobacco use.