U.S. Chamber Fights for Healthier Workplaces, Affordable Coverage

 

Few issues frustrate and confound businesses like health care. They are struggling to control rising costs-if they can even afford to offer coverage to their employees in the first place. The Chamber provides businesses with resources on how to lower health care costs through workplace wellness and prevention programs and fights for legislation to increase access to affordable coverage. In addition, the Chamber is tracking the health care debate on the campaign trail and is prepared to carry its market-driven health care reform agenda into 2009, when a new president and Congress are seated.

 

 

 

Looking for ways to lower your health care costs and improve the health of your employees? Then you may want to consider a wellness and prevention program that encourages childhood and adult immunizations and examines the use of daily aspirin for employees of a certain age and at increased risk for heart disease. Screening employees for tobacco use and offering them help to quit is also an effective preventive measure. While there are many other preventive services, these three have the highest impact and are the most cost effective, according to a report by the Partnership for Prevention, of which the U.S. Chamber is a member.

 

"Unhealthy living habits and preventable diseases that result from them drive up health care costs," says Anthony Wisniewski, Chamber executive director of health care policy. "It makes good business sense for companies, as purchasers of health care, to provide opportunities and incentives for their employees to live healthier." 

 

To generate employee interest in wellness, businesses should consider reducing out-of-pocket costs for preventive services and preventive medications such as cholesterol-lowering drugs or nicotine replacement therapies. When negotiating a health plan, companies should ensure that high-value preventive services are included with limited cost sharing. Educating employees about available preventive services and making those services convenient tend to boost participation. Working with health care providers located near the workplace or arranging for a temporary on-site clinic or mobile van to conduct screenings and vaccinations are ways to increase participation.

 

Many small businesses have discovered that they are able to implement a wellness program at relatively low cost. Health seminars, health risk assessments and screenings, monetary incentives for healthy living, and reimbursement for health club dues are common components of these programs. The Chamber and the Partnership for Prevention released the publication Leading by Example, which contains best practices for employee health management. To download, go to www.prevent.org/LBE.