How to structure a Wellness Program for your company to help keep your employees active and healthy.

Recently we’ve implemented a few wellness plans for some of our clients, and I’ve come to the conclusion that most business owners aren’t 100% sure what a Wellness Program actually is.

So, I figured I’d take a few moments to talk about an idea or 2 to further explain how Wellness programs work.

If your company is above 100 employees you are considered a large group and multiple factors are taken when obtaining health insurance coverage. At this size you are individually underwritten, and certain things are set in stone, the number of employees, their ages, medical histories etc.

But the one variable is… Claims History.

When an insurance company is calculating your renewal they are going to look at the amount of claims that were put through the prior year.

So, if your group is healthy and doesn’t go to the doctor very often, you will get a much cheaper renewal then a group that has very high claims.

Many people tell me “Well when a person gets sick they go to the doctor, what can I do about it?"

My answer is, nothing. If someone is sick, catches a cold, or needs an operation, they have to have one, but a persons weight, activity and eating habits have a huge impact on the persons overall well being. If you put a plan in place to help people to stop smoking or lose weight with incentives, the amount of times they go to the doctor will go down and so will the claims.

For example:

We got one of our clients employees pedometers. Now for the next month they’ll all wear it and whoever walks the most steps will get a grand prize, say a day off, and the next 4 runners up will get a half a day off.

This encourages employees to walk more then usual, helping them to burn calories, improve lung function in a low impact way.

And you know what… Claims will decrease… So the employee gets something (Better Health and a day off) and the employer gets a health bill they can live with (Because we can’t get them a free health bill which they really want).

Its important to live a healthy life and small changes and incentives can make all the differences in your employees lives and your premiums.

If you have any questions you can reach me at (631) 338- 9917.

Related Posts: Are your employees well?

Are your employees well?

Have you ever heard the phrase “It’s better to be proactive, then reactive?” I’ve spent a lot of time trying to use this in both my clients and my life. Too often we as people wait till there is a problem before making a concerned effort to fix it. This is the same way our doctors and hospitals treat our patients, they fix the problem once there is one. They say to themselves, “If there’s not a symptom, there’s not a problem”.

Could you imagine if your mechanic told you “Your cars running fine, bring it in to me when it breaks down and I’ll fix it for you”. You would say he’s insane but we do that with our health care everyday. Unfortunately this is how most Medical plans work, “There’s no heart problem till a heart attack”, “No eating problem till there’s diabetes” etc.

This is another place where EMPLOYERS DROP THE BALL.

As a business, you can offer a wellness program to go along with your medical plan to keep your employees healthy and claim free.

Remember the equation: Health claims decrease = Health Insurance Renewals cheaper

You can customize a plan that makes sense for your employees that covers nutrition, smoking, weight loss etc.

Remember, it’s better to be proactive then reactive!

If you have any questions you can always reach me at 631-338-9917.

Related Posts: How to structure a wellness program to keep your employees healthy