Hewitt and the National Business Group on Health's survey reveals five important insights into how workers and their dependents view health care. These insights are essential for employers to know as they examine their present and future health care plans. Help for prescription medicines is high on the list. 

 

In spite of the fact that employees say they know how to get healthy, many aren't taking action to do so. Seventy two percent of the employees surveyed feel that receiving regular preventive care will result in good health. An additional 84% think that making prudent decisions in their daily life will lead to overall good health. Only half of the workers think they do a great or good job of eating healthy, while less than half (46%) reported doing a great or good job of exercising on a regular basis. To assist with the expensive prices of prescription medication, most employees surveyed rated prescription program assistance incredibly high. 

 

Despite the fact that satisfaction is generally high in health programs, participation is 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 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. The least popular programs were stress management programs and employee assistance programs. For employees 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 valuable. Frequently, businesses assume that providing financial 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 participate in a wellness program furnished by their employer because "it is the right thing to do".

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