Cover:PLANSPONSOR 2009 Ultimate Buyer's Guide: Wellness:
Truth and Consequences
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Illustration By Fernanda Cohen
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More employers with wellness programs consider
requiring participation
"We are seeing people move more toward 'sticks'
rather than 'carrots,'" says Cathy Tripp, National
Leader for Consumerism at consultant Watson Wyatt
Worldwide, about how the economy has affected employers'
thinking on wellness programs.
Before, an employer might have offered workers a gift
card as an incentive to do a health screening. "Now,
the employer may say that, if the health-risk assessment
indicates you need to participate in a disease-management
program and you do not, your deductible is going to be $500
higher. We even have seen some employers say employees have
to do a health-risk assessment if they want coverage. In
this economy, there is the latitude to push these things a
little further."
As employers with wellness programs plan for 2010, "they
are being much more aggressive" about their expectations,
says Jay Savan, a St. Louis-based Principal at consultant
Towers Perrin. "It is much less of a value-added approach,
and more expressly around identifying health risks and
addressing them." Prior to the economic meltdown, he says,
"Many employers felt that they were not necessarily in a
position to mandate that kind of approach."
A lot of the discussions Savan currently has with
clients explore the idea of requiring or strongly
encouraging participation in programs like biometric
screening. "An employer might say, 'I am going to offer you
two medical plans. One is much higher in value than the
other—however, to participate in that plan, we require you
to complete a health-risk assessment, and if the risk
assessment determines that you are eligible for case
management or should be in a wellness program, you have to
participate," he says.
Or an employer may make its health savings account (HSA)
contribution to an employee contingent on participation in
a wellness program, says Jerry Ripperger, National Practice
Leader of Consumer Health for the Principal Financial
Group. "We are seeing more employers saying, 'Let's start
having a conversation about consequences,'" he says.