Insights as to how employees and their dependents perceive health care is discovered in a new survey released by the National Business Group and conducted by Hewitt. In order to prepare their company health care strategies, it is essential to be aware of the results of the survey. Help for prescription medicines is high on the list. 

 

Workers may how to get healthy, however many are not taking action. Most (84%) think making intelligent choices in daily life leads to good overall health, and just about three-quarters (72%) believe good health is a consequence 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 employees think they do a “great” or good job” of eating healthy. To help with the high prices of prescription medication, most employees surveyed ranked prescription program assistance extremely high. 

 

Participation in health programs is low, but satisfaction is high. Participation in a lot of employer provided health programs isn’t as high as many businesses would like to see, even though workers 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. The least popular programs were stress management programs and employee assistance programs. For workers that have dependent coverage, a prescription program was the number one satisfying benefit.

 

Financial motivation is a strong factor in participation but non financial, internal motivators can be just as valuable. Frequently, businesses 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”. 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 take part in a wellness program offered by their employer because “it’s the right thing to do”.