More and more group health insurance companies are offering "Wellness" programs to help keep employees healthier and obviously, reduce claims.

I was curious, first of all, does your group health insurance program offer a "Wellness" program?

If so, do you personally take advantage of it, why or why not?

ShayK, great topic! Well, I am a little biased towards Wellness Plans and Value Based designs.

To answer your question, our group health plan does not offer a wellness program per se. They offer various online resources, but no comprehensive plan. However, we have negotiated budgetary funds for a wellness program in the renewal process with our carrier. (Good idea for any of you benefits managers out there looking for a way to fund a program). The only issue at this point is that there is not a direct effect on your health insurance for participation. There is a cash incentive. This is great for participants, however it is a nightmare for the business office. (Ie. Any cash or cash equivalent incentive is subject to state and federal income taxes) We have made a proposal to work this into our Section 125, FSA accounts which would be a more efficient integration.

Will keep you posted on the progress. Does anyone else have innovative incentives ideas. We have a 100% contribution (employer pays 100% of employee only premium) so a premium differential would not work.

Thanks for the post ShayK!

My wives job offers a wellness program and he attends every year. They do different types of screenings like ggo and bad cholesteral (sp?) hearing, eye, sugar levels, weight and so on. They go over evrything with you and show you how to change some of the bad results. Anyone who participates in this is given a $50 gas card, paid 2 hours wages for attending and entered into a drawing for 3 different types of vehicles.
Best of all the results are confidential and cannot cause you any problems at work.

One great wellness benefit my family has used through my wife's employer plan is the pregnancy wellness benefit. She had to take a short online class on pregnancy and attend all of her scheduled appointments during her pregnancy. In return they reduced our cost for those visits and gave us the pre-natal and during pregnancy vitiamins for free. They also sent us a baby care package after our son was born.