Could You Reduce Your Healthcare Costs with a Wellness Benefit?
You may remember a few years ago when news outlets began reporting on companies that were refusing to hire smokers. The concept was simple. Smokers were higher health risks and higher health risks increased a company’s insurance premiums. It may sound extreme, but in multiple states the employers’ decisions were upheld by the Supreme Court.
With healthcare back in the spotlight, companies are once again looking for ways to leverage their employment policies to keep their insurance rates down. While it might be legal to refuse to hire smokers, many companies feel this is a violation of personal privacy. Luckily there’s a way you might be able to reduce your healthcare costs and help your employees at the same time through a wellness benefit.
Wellness benefits are nothing new to human resources practitioners, but lately companies are using them in extremely unique ways. A wellness benefit is usually as simple as a company offering a gym membership (or subsidized membership), on-site exercise, health evaluations or reimbursement for qualified wellness expenses (often up to a certain capped amount). There is a lot of research that shows wellness benefits not only increase the health of your organization, but also the morale. With an increased emphasis on work/life balance in recent years, employees are more interested than ever in finding companies that support them both inside and outside of the office. Aiding your employees with their personal wellness can be a great way to accomplish this goal.
Benefits don’t have to stop at employee morale alone. Some companies are using their wellness programs as strong negotiating leverage when choosing between different insurance providers. Even more aggressive companies in certain states have begun offering wellness incentives to their employees for hitting specific blood pressure, cholesterol or weight targets. This may sound extreme, but in many cases insurance carriers will significantly reduce a corporation’s insurance premiums if it can be proven that the organizations workforce is healthier than average.
While the rules and regulations vary dramatically from state to state, and pricing and negotiating factors are different for every insurance vendor, looking into how a wellness benefit could reduce expenses for your company is definitely a project worth pursuing. It’s also a plus that most carriers will have conversations about pricing and offer quotes even before your wellness program is in place. With the proper advanced planning you will be able to determine the exact ROI that a wellness program could have on your insurance costs.
It’s fairly rare that we’re given an opportunity to enhance our employee’s experience, improve their health, increase morale and reduce expenses all with one maneuver. Doesn’t that make it worth exploring the potential of a wellness benefit for your organization?
