Did You Know? Employee Wellness Programs Can Reduce Healthcare Costs. Here Is How.

Health insurance costs have been rising since always, and the last decade saw an almost 50% rise in these sky-rocketing costs. Although employee wellness programs have been helping to reduce these costs, studies suggest the key reasons for these rising healthcare costs could be -

• Unhealthy lifestyle
• Lack of awareness
• Poor work environment
• Administrative costs

?So, not only a major portion of the country's GDP is being consumed due to the rising healthcare costs, but it can also impact businesses and the entire economy.

?Workplace benefits packages are considered great employee engagement strategies. They are known to attract skilled talent and retain them, thus, reducing employee turnover rates. And so, many employers are including attractive healthcare plans as an integral part of the workplace benefits packages with the key objective of improving employee wellbeing and reducing healthcare costs.

?To curb the rising healthcare costs, employers are looking for actionable plans. Here are some simple and ideal tactics for organizations to save on their employee’s medical expenses.

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Incentivizing Health and Wellness Programs

It's simple! The healthier the employees are, the lower will be the healthcare costs. So motivating your employees to follow a healthy lifestyle is the key to it. Employee wellness programs offer wellness challenges and activities that can help the workforce adopt healthy habits. Incentivizing the employee wellness programs can motivate them to keep up with healthy habits and stay away from negative behavior. The benefits programs and incentives can include gym reimbursements, health club memberships, wearables, fitness gear, and more that can attract, engage, and help employees achieve their health goals.

Wellbeing Programs and Health Coverage for Family

To ensure complete health and happiness, everyone around an individual must follow healthy habits. Hence, the family and the workplace need to support and follow healthy, happy, and positive actions. And what better way to achieve this than to include the spouses, children, and dependents in the employee wellness programs. In addition to encouraging healthy habits that extend to the family members, offering health coverage to spouses and children can give the company a competitive edge in the market too. By encouraging the entire family to get healthy with corporate wellness programs, employers can subsequently reduce the risk of potential healthcare claims.

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Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)

Many large companies in the United States offer Health Savings Accounts (HSA) plans for their workforce. Ideally, the costs of HSA policies should be at least 20% - 40% lesser than the standard healthcare plans. These savings are contributed to funding employee HSAs. The Health Savings Accounts plans are tax-free. Also, they can be the best retirement income. Furthermore, since the employees themselves spend their funds, they can plan their healthcare expenses and choose the best-suited and cost-effective options.

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Plan the Employee Benefits Properly

Many times, employers focus on offering plenty of employee benefits and are generous with their incentives. While it might look like the company is highly invested in their employee wellbeing, it may not be effective in reality. For example, employers may allocate a huge percent of wellness dollars towards gym reimbursements. However, if the employees do not utilize their gym membership, especially with the COVID-19 regulations in place, it is going to be a huge loss to the company. Similarly, hiring an experienced general practitioner for employee health assessments can be more cost-effective than having an expensive physician. So, employers must first understand the interests and requirements of the workforce and then plan their employee benefits packages accordingly. This way, the wellness dollars can be directed to the right use, and the company resources can be utilized in the best possible way.

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ER Education and OTC Medication Discounts

Emergency room visits are 5 - 6 times more expensive than the cost of visiting a physician. However, with adequate information and knowledge about the ER care facilities, employees can choose from other cost-effective options like 24/7 nurse/physician hotlines, medical store clinics, etc. Also, many pharmacies and retail chains offer prescription drugs and over-the-counter (OTC) medications at a discount. Companies can collaborate with these stores to secure discounted pharmaceuticals for their employees and save a fortune on healthcare expenses.

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Promoting Healthy Habits Programs

Studies show that unhealthy lifestyle habits cost employers thousands of dollars towards healthcare costs of chronic diseases. For example, employees who smoke cost their companies around $3,000 annually. It could be due to medical expenses, hospitalizations, or lost productivity due to absenteeism. Implementing employee wellness challenge ideas that promote healthy habits and disease management can help the workforce quit their unhealthy habits and reduce healthcare costs. Incentivizing healthy habits and disease management programs like smoking cessation, responsible drinking, etc., can boost employee engagement.

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In short, employers must focus on spending their wellness dollars on employee wellness programs. Studies show that every dollar spent towards employee health and wellbeing can bring in an ROI of $5 - $6. Be it health assessments, screenings, disease management, wellness challenges, gamification, or incentives, every dollar spent wisely can be beneficial.

?The best way to implement a comprehensive employee wellness program is by choosing an experienced wellness vendor, like Wellness360.

The dynamic corporate wellness platform and mobile wellness app easily deliver the wellness program modules to the employees. The engaging features and tracking abilities make it easy to stay motivated and achieve health and wellness goals, thus reducing healthcare costs in the long run.