Insights as to how workers and their dependents perceive health care is discovered in a new survey released by the National Business Group and conducted by Hewitt. These insights are essential for businesses to be aware of as they assess their current and future health care approaches. Help for prescription medication is high on the list.
Workers know how to get healthy, however a lot are not taking action. Seventy two percent of the workers surveyed feel that receiving regular preventive care will result in good health. An additional 84% think that making wise decisions in their daily life will lead to overall good health. Only 46% of the workers surveyed reported doing a “great” or “good job” of regular exercising and only about half of the employees think they do a “great” or good job” of eating healthy. To assist with the high prices of medicines, most employees surveyed ranked prescription program assistance pretty high.
In spite of high satisfaction in health programs, participation remains low. Involvement in a lot of employer provided health programs isn’t as high as many employers would like to see, even though workers and their dependents report that they know what they need to do to get and stay healthy. The most accepted programs include biometric screenings (61%), followed by online health information tools (53%) and health risk questionnaires (41%). The least popular programs were stress management programs and employee assistance programs. For employees that have dependent coverage, a prescription program was the number one satisfying benefit.
Internal motivators can be just as effective as monetary ones. Many businesses presume that offering cash incentives in exchange for participation will generate the best results and incent workers to participate in health care programs. Nearly half would complete a health-risk questionnaire (HRQ) without any incentive because it is “the right thing to do”. About 30% of the individuals would complete a survey if there was a penalty for not doing so and an additional 30% would do it if there was a monetary incentive involved. Further, 44% of employees would participate in a wellness or health improvement program provided by their employer because it is the right thing to do.
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