It’s Time to Share Responsibility for Group Health Benefit Policies

What’s the best way to control the cost of group benefit policies?

Keep the number of instances requiring medical intervention down.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, part of the problem is delegating responsibility for employee wellness. One of the most common questions I get from corporate employers aiming to provide group benefit policies revolves around the reasons group benefits cost what they do. As part of the process of finding the right fit, I make sure my customers understand how to manage the costs of group benefits now and in the future.

There are three levels of responsibility when it comes to health and wellness at the workplace, and that’s where the conversation begins.

1. You. First, it starts with the individual. Living a healthy, active lifestyle is a conscious decision every person is capable of making. From healthy nutrition choices to responsible rest patterns to spending consistent energy in a gym, on a court, or on a trail, an individual’s physical health belongs to no one but that individual.

2. The team. Absorbing a healthy culture is a fast track to improved employee health and wellness.It’s always easier to latch on to trends when you’re surrounded by them. Imagine coming to work every day and being surrounded by health-conscious people who work as hard at their job as they do on their bodies and minds. Who wouldn’t be inspired by that culture?

3. The bosses. Who has the greatest ability to empower healthy choices? The best form of naturally preventative medicine starts at the top of the ladder. From a culture standpoint, CEO’s and managers who live a healthy lifestyle carry more influence over employees than anyone. Plus, this level of the corporate structure can enact health-conscious initiatives that trickle down throughout the entire company.

The Prevention Plan

A study conducted from 2006 to 2009 by doctors Ronald Loeppke, Dee W. Edington, and Sami Bég wanted to evaluate the impact of health and wellness promotion in the workplace. They employed lab screening, early detection methods, and the effect of company culture as part of the study.

Their study is fascinating (read The Prevention Plan study in its entirety) but it’s not as cut and dry as you might expect.

15 health risk metrics were analyzed, from baseline tests to blood tests to biometric screening. We’ll get to the results in a minute, but first it’s important to ask a simple question.

Why?

Why are we studying the effects of poor health in the workplace? Well, besides the strain high health care costs inflict on individual companies, the burden on the health insurance system is stark as well. According to The Prevention Plan, “average premiums for family health insurance coverage have increased 131% since 1999.”

When it comes to the cost of health insurance, the workplace has never faced a steeper price. It’s important for me that my clients understand this and know how to deal with it.

Who Pays?

If we’re strictly speaking about the steady rise of the financial impact on corporate health benefits, the cost is being spread to the workers themselves. Medical bills, pharmacy, and resulting absenteeism has to be paid for by someone, and in today’s current economic climate, more often than not its the employees who end up footing the bill.

Aside from the financial side of it, what about the cost to our physical health?

The rise of health premiums is a damning indictment of the current state of physical wellness in our country. Like we listed above, good health starts with the individual. From there it becomes an infectious (in a good way) part of our company culture. Both of those elements exist beneath the corporate umbrella, or those who have the greatest power to affect positive change in the day to day lives of one of our most treasured resources.

Our employees.

Next post:

“The average Canadian employee needs an intervention, and it’s the progressive business leader who hold the power to stage such an intervention.”

Come back in two weeks when we dig deeper into the culture of corporate wellness and who’s responsible for the support our workforce requires.

Categorised in: Group Benefits, insurance

This post was written by Marco Faccone