Insights as to how workers and their dependents perceive health care is discovered in a new survey released by the National Business Group and carried out by Hewitt. In order to prepare their corporate health care strategies, it is important to understand the results of the survey. Help for prescription medicines is high on the list.
Workers know how to get healthy, however a lot aren’t taking action. Most (84%) think making good decisions in daily life leads to excellent overall health, and nearly three-quarters (72%) believe good health is a consequence of getting regular preventive care. Only 46% of the workers 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 high prices of medicines, most workers surveyed rated prescription program assistance very 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 involvement 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 employees that had dependent coverage, a prescription program was the number one satisfying benefit.
Financial motivation is a strong factor in participation but non monetary, internal motivators can be just as valuable. Frequently, businesses assume that providing monetary incentives for participating in programs will increase participation. 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 employees surveyed said they would be willing to take part in a wellness program provided by their employer because “it is the right thing to do”.