How employees view health care is looked out in a new survey performed by the National Business Group and Hewitt. In order to plan their corporate health care strategies, it is key to understand the results of the survey. Help for prescription medication is high on the list.Â
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Workers may how to get healthy, however a lot are not taking action. Most (84%) believe making wise decisions in daily life leads to excellent overall health, and almost three-quarters (72%) believe good health is a result of getting regular preventive care. Only 46% of the employees surveyed reported doing a “great” or “good job” of regular working out and only about half of the workers think they do a “great” or good job” of eating healthy. To assist with the expensive cost of prescription drugs, most employees surveyed ranked prescription program assistance incredibly high.Â
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Participation in health programs is low, but satisfaction is high. Involvement in a lot of employer provided health programs isn’t 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. Biometric screenings are the most popular programs with online health information tools and health risk questionnaires following closely. Stress management programs and employee assistance programs (EAPs) were the least popular, with just nine percent participation in each. For workers that have dependent coverage, a prescription program was the number one satisfying benefit.
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Internal motivators can be just as effective as monetary ones. Many businesses presume that offering cash incentives in exchange for involvement will generate the best results and incent employees to participate in health care programs. Citing that it is “the right thing to do”, close to half of all workers surveyed would complete a health risk questionnaire Twenty-nine percent would participate in a HRQ for an incentive and almost the same number would complete it if there was a penalty. Further, 44% of employees would participate in a wellness or health improvement program offered by their employer because it is the right thing to do.
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