Insights as to how workers and their dependents perceive health care is revealed in a new survey released by the National Business Group and performed by Hewitt. These insights are critical for employers to be aware of as they analyze their current and upcoming health care strategies. Help for prescription medicines is high on the list.
In spite of the fact that employees say they might know how to get healthy, many are not taking action to do so. Seventy two percent of the employees surveyed believe that receiving regular preventive care will result in good health. Another 84% think that making good 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 help with the high cost of prescription medication, most workers surveyed rated prescription program assistance incredibly high.
Involvement in health programs is low, but satisfaction is high. Employees and dependents say they might know what actions they need to take to get and stay healthy, but participation in many employer-provided health improvement programs is not as high as businesses would like. 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.
Internal motivators can be just as effective as monetary ones. Frequently, employers assume that providing monetary incentives for participating in programs will increase participation. Nearly half would complete a health-risk questionnaire (HRQ) without any incentive because it is “the right thing to do”. About 30% of the participants 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. In addition, 44% of the employees surveyed said they would be willing to take part in a wellness program offered by their employer because “it is the right thing to do”.