Insights as to how workers and their dependents view health care is discovered in a new survey released by the National Business Group and done by Hewitt. These insights are crucial for employers to know as they evaluate their existing and upcoming health care approaches. Help for prescription medicines is high on the list. 

Many workers are not doing what they have to do to get healthy even though they know better. Most (84%) believe making good choices in every day life leads to excellent overall health, and just about three-quarters (72%) think good health is a outcome of getting regular preventive care. Only 46% of the employees surveyed reported doing a “great” or “good job” of regular exercising and only about half of the workers think they do a “great” or good job” of eating healthy. To help with the high prices of drugs, most employees surveyed rated prescription program assistance very high. 

In spite of high satisfaction in health programs, participation remains low. Involvement in a lot of employer provided health programs is not 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%). Stress management programs and employee assistance programs (EAPs) were the least popular, with just nine percent participation in each. For workers that had dependent coverage, a prescription program was the number one satisfying benefit.

Internal motivators can be just as effective as financial ones. Many employers 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. 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”.

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