Effect of Wellness Programs on Healthcare Insurance Jacob Richardson Health and Wellness Co.

Many people wonder how they can reduce their Healthcare Insurance Premiums. The companies

that they work for offer a Healthcare Insurance plan but is the insurance plan the best price? Can be but most of the Healthcare Insurance plans that

companies offer includes Wellness Programs that employees have to do. Why do these Healthcare

Insurance plans contain a Wellness Program?

The companies have Wellness Programs to decrease

the costs of Healthcare Insurance and to get the most coverage possible from the Healthcare

Insurance Company. In this article, the above questions will be answered by discussing the factors and the effects of a Wellness Program that decrease

premiums on Healthcare Insurance. These factors are:

Increase employee productivity

Leads to less employee absent days due to

illness

Resolving concerns with Wellness

Programs.

Increase employee productivity

Employees are able to work harder for longer

periods of time because their physical body is able to endure more challenges due to exercise.

Wellness programs keep employees emotionally healthy: Regular exercise is a great way to reduce

stress and feelings of depression and anxiety, which very likely increases productivity.1

Employees’ mind is better to cope and endure the mental stresses of the job that come up. Due to the

neuro learning that occurs in exercise.

Energy levels are higher because employees that

exercise regularly are more alert during work hours and they are less likely to get tired during the

workday.2 As Ralph Harik of imp said, “Healthier employees, I am convinced, tend to be more energetic and enjoy coming to work, which

translates into greater company loyalty and higher productivity.”3

This leads to employees not miss work days.

Lead to less employee absent days due to illness

In many studies that have been done show that people miss work days mostly due to sickness or illness that they have. This can come from chronic

diseases like Cancer, Hypertension, Cardiovascular, and Diabetes. Wellness programs help employees

manage their chronic disease if they have one. Exercise and diet programs has been proven to have an effect on chronic disease whether to prevent

them or treat them. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans is based on the facts that,

what a person must do in order to receive the greatest reduction of risk for chronic diseases.

In a Workplace Wellness Program Study released in 2013, approximately 80 percent reported the

programs decreased absenteeism.4

Employees are healthier and therefore don’t suffer

from sickness or illness as often.

Resolving concerns with Wellness Programs

Great things can come from these Wellness

programs but problems still arise about them. The biggest problems facing Wellness Programs is that not every employee is motivated to participate in

the wellness program, and not every employee knows about the wellness program, and the wellness

program isn’t cost efficient. The pie chart includes the different type of employees in the company.

Courtesy of Len Strazewski5

60 percent of employees know about the wellness program at the company. 40 percent of those

Employees and wellness program Employees know

about wellness

program

Employees don't

know about

wellness programs

Employees who

actually

participate in a

wellness program

2

employees that know about the wellness program actually participate. The other 40 percent of the

employees of the company don’t even know about the wellness program.6

Not every employee participates in the wellness programs because they don’t enjoy the exercise or

physical activity program that is provided by the company. People want to do things they enjoy. In

order to help solve this problem many companies have provided incentives or rewards for employees if they participate in the wellness programs.

Some of these incentives are free gym memberships, massages, yoga classes, T-shirts,

coffee mugs, tickets to local events, and gift cards.7

Most companies give out free money and better premiums on healthcare insurance.

In fact Len Strazewski said that Health insurance premium discounts or credits were the most popular

form of incentive.8

Some employees don’t even know that their

company offers a wellness program. Len says that communication is an answer to this problem.

Gallup research pegs the problem to both management and plan design.9

If companies developed better plans, then most employees would enjoy the wellness program.

These employees would tell their other co-workers about the wellness programs. The plan design of these wellness programs will also help motivate

employees to participate because often people need to be held accountable in order to achieve goals.

Management would have a factor in making sure employees are participating in the wellness programs.

Other aspects of wellness programs can also

influence whether or not employees participate in them. In the study that Liu et al. did showed that a wellness program is made up of different things like

Disease management, nurse advice line, HRA a health questionnaire, Lifestyle management, weight

control, fitness, nutrition, stress, and smoking cessation.

In a study of 15,587 employees only 7,200 participated in the wellness program. The types of

participants found in the study were more likely to be older, more likely to be female and less likely to

be a dependent and to have chronic conditions such as asthma, Congestive heart failure, and depression.

The bar graph below displays the different percent risk of rate for inpatient admissions.

Courtesy of Liu et al.10

The inpatient admission rate for these participants was 38 percent higher than that for nonparticipants.

When participants were matched with their nonparticipant counterparts, the nonparticipant

counterparts had higher total medical costs, more inpatient admissions and emergency room visits.11

Liu et al said that the results are not statistically significant. They also said the reason for the results not to be statistically significant is because in the

study disease management was not included and the study didn’t last long enough to see the benefits and

the results. Realizing the benefits of a wellness program can take longer than three years. Benefits of the wellness program include reductions in costs

and utilization. The analysis period may not be sufficient to detect significant changes in the

outcomes.12 Some other difference between the findings of this study and other studies that have been done is that the other studies is due to variation

in design, how the study was implemented, the intervention intensity, and or incentives offered to

encourage program participation.

Types of interventions include health education

materials either electronically or in print, group classes, online tools, and individual or group

counseling. The interventions here can be included

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Participants NonParticipants

Rates for inpatient admission

3

in a wellness program, which can possibly motivate employees to participate. These interventions if

implemented into a wellness program can be a way for the company to measure how many employees

are participating in the wellness program.

Healthcare insurance companies can take this

information that the company uses to measure employee participation and health, to determine

what kind of Healthcare Plans the company can use. The healthcare insurance companies will determine the price of premiums for each employee of the

company. Tests or questionnaires that are a part of the wellness program are vital for the healthcare

insurance companies to determine the kind of healthcare coverage and price of premiums for each employee.

In conclusion, wellness programs that companies provide can effect healthcare insurance based on the

kind of coverage and price of premiums. Many factors of the wellness programs play a role in how

the Healthcare insurance company determines the kind of coverage and price of premiums. Wellness programs are beneficial that have different parts to

the program.

1. Bruce Jacobs. “RIP wellness ROI?” Benefits Sell ing. Breaking News. February 10, 2014.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Rachel Weick.”Insurance provider services may reduce employer costs.” Grand Rapids Business Journal. April 7, 2014.3

5. Len Strazewski. “Wellness Programs A Good

Investment?” Voluntary Benefits Special Report. July 2014. 62-63

6. Ibid.

Endnotes

7. Bruce Jacobs. “RIP wellness ROI?” Benefits Sell ing. Breaking News. February 10, 2014.

8. Len Strazewski. “Wellness Programs A Good Investment?” Voluntary Benefits Special Report. July

2014. 62-63

9. Ibid.

10. Hangsheng Liu, Soeren Mattke, Katherine M. Harris, Sarah Weinberger, Seth Serxner, John P. Caloyeras, and Ellen Exum. “Do Workplace Wellness Programs Reduce Medical Costs? Evidence from a Fortune 500

Company.” Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing. 150-158

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.