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Corporate Wellness Program Can Everyone In Shape |
By:
Spencer McNight |
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People being treated for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, early heart attacks and being obese are costing health insurance companies millions of dollars annually. This creates higher premiums for the companies that provide the insurance policies for their employees. The higher premiums are some times past on to the employees in higher co-pays, reduced coverage or shared payments of the premiums. This takes money out of everyone’s pockets. Something needs to be done about the epidemic of individuals not taking good care of their health. Adults are very concerned about the sedentary life styles that children are leading, but they are not setting an example of being active.
Some companies have started providing educational programs for employees to help them get more actively involved in their health care prior to having issues. Many of these corporate wellness programs are co-sponsored by the major health insurance programs to encourage people to take better care of their bodies. Our agency had a rather clever corporate wellness program. They had different departments form teams of people that wanted to walk, eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and also do some type of meditation on a weekly basis. Each team recorded the participant’s activities. The company nurse took the participants blood pressure and weight at the beginning of the corporate wellness program and again at the end of the ten week challenge. The team that recorded the greatest loss of weight and the lowering of blood pressure won the corporate wellness program. All of the participants received a t-shirt and a twenty five percent off of a membership to a local health club. The winners received free memberships to the health club as well as free health insurance. This was a huge prize because we had to pay thirty percent of the premium of our health insurance.
The next year when the agency announced that they would again be offering the corporate wellness program almost all the employees participated in the hopes of getting the free insurance. This paid off for everyone because it got people eating better and exercising and the insurance company reported a reduction in insurance usage for both years. Many of us were really impressed with the results. Many of us were also feeling better. Also once people had ten weeks of the healthier eating and exercise they tended to keep up the healthier behavior. This was a great program that helped people help themselves. My hope is that people will continue this healthier behavior without the monetary incentives. I know that the experience has changed my attitude about how to best care for myself.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article80420.html |
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