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W
hile losing weight,
improving fitness and
quitting smoking are
always among the top three New
Year’s resolutions for individuals,
employers would be wise to
help their workers meet those
resolutions, health insurance
brokers say.
The fewer obese and/or
smoking employees a company
has, the fewer health insurance
claims they file and thus, lower
costs for the company and
consequently, the worker.
“It all goes together. It’s
really a pretty simple formula.
Containing costs is important
to any business and wellness
is a great way to control health
insurance costs, which as we all
know are costs that continually
go up if not controlled,” said
Tim Wyman, president of The
Wyman Group, which provides
home, life and health insurance
as well as financial services for its
clients.
Wyman said Obamacare was
designed to help companies
contain health care costs while
making sure more people are
insured. The cost containment
part of it isn’t happening, he said,
because companies aren’t doing
what they need to better control
the rates they pay.
“If you are going to control
the rates you have to control the
number of claims you file with
the insurance company. The
whole idea behind wellness is to
control the number of claims that
get filed,” Wyman said.
“It used to be that we tried to
control the costs of each claim
without looking much at how
many were filed. Now we look
at both because you can have
less costly claims, but if you have
a lot of them it all adds up for
the insurance company. And it
affects the rates you pay. Again,
it’s pretty simple,” he said.
Wyman counsels his client
companies that there are only
two critical factors to consider
for their workers if they want to
contain health care costs: BMI
(body mass index) and smoking
cessation. While there are only
two, he added, emphasis should
be put on the word critical
because of how those two factors
affect a person’s health.
BMI takes into consideration
weight and fitness. An obese
person is more prone to disease,
such as diabetes, and that would
lead to many claims being filed.
Smoking affects many health
aspects as well, with pulmonary
and cardiac problems chief
among them.
Wyman said he advises
company clients to support
weight loss programs and even
to supplement fitness club dues
so they can get their BMI under
control.
As far as smoking cessation,
he said this is an area where
employers may have to be
more firm with workers for it to
succeed.
“I tell my clients they have
to first eliminate smoking any
place at the company, including
outside on company grounds
or in employee cars if they are
parked on the grounds. That can
help provide impetus to quit
smoking because some will figure
if they can’t smoke for eight or
nine hours they’re at work, they
might as well quit,” Wyman said.
He then advises clients to give
the employee the proper support
The Present
Getting
Well
Wellness programs can help
companies save money while
they help their employees
meet resolutions
By Paul Gordon
34
thePeorian.com