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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Many More Workers Are Taking Advantage of Their Wellness Benefits

Achieving better health is the top reason American workers (43%) say they participate in a wellness benefit program or would participate, according to the latest Principal Financial Well-Being Index. Other reasons include reduced personal health care costs (33%) and a greater chance of living longer and healthier lives (31%).
The survey also found that 53% of workers use weight management programs offered by their employers — a 25% increase over last year. There was a 21% increase in workers’ use of personalized action plans for high-risk conditions to 68%, and an 18% increase in workers’ use of blood sugar screenings to 84%.
Forty-three percent of workers agree wellness benefits motivate them to work harder and perform better. Twenty-eight percent say they have missed fewer days of work as a direct result of participating in a wellness program and 38% attribute wellness programs to improved energy and productivity at work. Forty-eight percent said that their wellness benefits encourage them to stay in their current employment situation.

Many Employers Want Healthcare Reform to be Repealed

Sixty-two percent of employers say they hope healthcare reform is repealed, according to a study by Market Strategies International.

Seventy-two percent of employers say they don’t believe that healthcare reform will reduce their healthcare cost burden. This finding is independent of firm size and whether the firm offers employee health benefits. Sixty-three percent of employers don’t think that healthcare reform will make their business more competitive from a cost standpoint or more competitive in attracting and retaining employees.

However, 70% believe that some parts of healthcare reform should stay in place and 58% believe that reform was long overdue.