Posts Tagged ‘healthcare costs’
Healthcare Reform is a Winner for Wellness. Really?
It’s official. President Obama signed “our” new health care bill earlier this Spring, 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.