Hewitt Survey On Health Care Is Revealing In It Is Findings
Posted by Cataracts - 08/09/10 at 07:09 pmHewitt and the National Business Group on Health’s survey reveals five key insights into how workers and their dependents view health care. These insights are key for businesses to be aware of as they evaluate their existing and future health care plans. Help for prescription medication is high on the list.
A lot of workers are not doing what they ought to do to get healthy even though they know better. Seventy two percent of the workers surveyed think that getting regular preventive care will result in good health. An additional 84% think that making smart decisions in their daily life will lead to overall good health. Only 46% of the workers surveyed reported doing a “great” or “good job” of regular exercising and only about half of the employees think they do a “great” or good job” of eating healthy. To assist with the high cost of prescription medication, most workers surveyed rated prescription program assistance pretty high.
In spite of high satisfaction in health programs, participation remains low. Workers and dependents say they know what actions they need to take to get and stay healthy, but involvement in many employer-provided health enhancement 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 workers that have 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 effective. Frequently, businesses assume that providing financial 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 participate in a wellness program offered by their employer because “it is the right thing to do”.
