Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Does your workplace have any wellness programs and/or wellness incentives? For example, paid gym memberships (but, perhaps something more innovative?). If so, do they work for the organization as a whole or for you individually? Do you have any data to back up the success of the program?
Also, if your work does have a wellness program, is your work a private firm or a government organization?
Moderator note: A second thread on the same topic has been merged into this thread, starting at post #20.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 11-10-2017 at 11:03 PM..
Reason: Merged two threads; edited title.
We get money put into our HSA if we do the incentives, which can be anything from lose weight to take a retirement planning class. The money goes in the following year - so, any incentives I do in 2016 will be applied in January 2017 if I'm still an employee at that time.
We get discounts for various things, including gym memberships. Proactive preventative programs, such as smoking cessation, losing weight, or even being a non-smoker lets us save some money from our health benefits. We also have walking programs or physical well-being checkups that, upon successful completion of the requirements, gifts us 100$ each. Company is private, but works w/ gov't as well.
Last edited by fluffypoopoo; 08-08-2016 at 11:51 AM..
Does your workplace have any wellness programs and/or wellness incentives?
Yes.
By participating in an annual health fair and jumping through some other hoops, we save almost 50% of our part of the healthcare premium.
We also get discounted gym memberships and a variety of preventative programs.
Yes we have wellness incentives. By participating in various activities throughout the year, you can earn enough points to get you a $300 break on your insurance premiums. The $300 is given as a lump sum to us in our paychecks in January. The activities include things like eat more fruits and vegetables with lunch for a month, walking challenges where you need to get 10,000 steps a day for a month, watch a video on lowering your stress, etc. Oh, and you can get points for getting regular dental cleanings and check ups. It's all self reported and it's run in conjunction with our health insurance company.
We also get various discounts on things like gym memberships, discounts on meeting with a nutritionist, and a variety of other programs. We are a large private company. Many of the employees participate b/c they want that $300. Plus it's fun to be part of the department "team" for different challenges.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,572 posts, read 81,167,557 times
Reputation: 57803
Quote:
Originally Posted by Girl
We get money put into our HSA if we do the incentives, which can be anything from lose weight to take a retirement planning class. The money goes in the following year - so, any incentives I do in 2016 will be applied in January 2017 if I'm still an employee at that time.
Same here. We have until the end of September to earn a certain number of points from healthy activities,
and will get in return $1,000 added to our HSA in January. The system has an interface to the various fitness devices, so my daily Fitbit steps are recorded automatically.
I worked (now retired) for a local government that was self insured. About 4,000 people are on the plan, including dependents.
One year they spent $11 MILLION on 22 of those 4,000.
The next year they set up a wellness program:
The premiums were the same-but they had three tiers for the benefits. Everyone was eligible for the top tier if you were willing to jump through hoops with blood work, physicals, preventative exams based on age etc. The results didn't matter-the employer did not even get them-you just needed to do them. If you smoked you needed to attend the smoking cessation program but you did not need to quit smoking.
I was always in the top level as the benefits were much better for no additional cost.
The employer's theory was if they save just prevent one of those high dollar claims the setup cost will be worth it.
Other benefits:
Discount gym memberships.
Maximum $300 into your HSA for wellness classes, yoga classes, "weight challenge" during the holidays etc.
The employer's theory was if they save just prevent one of those high dollar claims the setup cost will be worth it.
The employer is right.
What is cheaper? Paying $400 a year to cover lipids for an employee or paying costs when they have a massive heart attack (and live)?
What is cheaper? Paying $500 a year for hypertension medication or paying costs when they have a stroke and live?
Paying $1000 for smoking cessation or costs for lung cancer surgery/chemo/radiation?
It's very smart of companies to offer wellness incentives. And very smart to 'force' people to take care of themselves.. or, at least, to identify the problems before they're massive problems. Untreated hypertension does lead to strokes which have a massive cost.. Treated, it's a manageable condition and rather inexpensive to manage.
I don't understand the people who moan and complain when the company 'forces' them to do wellness checks and the like. The company doesn't get any of that info. Even a company I worked for that was self-insured, the info was still private.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
