National Business Group On Health Survey On Health Care Is Revealing In It Is Findings

Hewitt and the National Business Group on Health’s survey reveals five crucial insights into how employees and their dependents view health care. In order to prepare their company health care strategies, it is critical to be aware of the results of the survey. Help for prescription drugs is high on the list. 

 

Employees may how to get healthy, however a lot aren’t taking action. Seventy two percent of the workers surveyed feel that receiving regular preventive care will result in good health. Another 84% think that making sensible decisions in their daily life will lead to overall good health. Only half of the employees think they do a great or good job of eating healthy, while less than half (46%) reported doing a great or good job of working out on a regular basis. To assist with the high prices of prescription medicine, most employees surveyed ranked prescription program assistance extremely high. 

 

In spite of high satisfaction in health programs, participation remains low. Involvement in many employer provided health programs is not as high as many employers would like to see, even though employees 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 employees 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”. Twenty-nine percent would participate in a HRQ for an incentive and almost the same number would complete it if there was a penalty. In addition, 44% of the workers surveyed said they would be willing to participate in a wellness program provided by their employer because “it’s the right thing to do”.