On the heels of President Obama’s efforts to renew health care reform, a new survey shows that employers refuse to let up on finding their own ways to reduce health care costs.
According to Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health, more employers are instituting a health plan strategy that encourages workers to take better care of their health. For example, 66% of employers plan to provide incentives for workers to fill out a health risk appraisal, up from 61% in 2009. In addition, 56% of employers now offer health coaches and 26% provide onsite health centers.
“Even in tight times, employers will continue to encourage healthy behaviors with financial incentives and other initiatives,” says Ted Nussbaum, senior consultant at Towers Watson. “However, there are challenges to changing employee behavior that extend beyond budget constraints and employer-sponsored programs. Inspiring workers to be actively involved in their own health remains an uphill battle for most companies,” he adds.
Analysts at the NBGH and Towers Watson estimate that median health care costs will increase to 6.5% in 2010, down from 7% in 2009. Still, the spike continues to be more than twice the rate of inflation.
In the survey, which was conducted from November 2009 to January 2010 and involved 507 employers with 1,000 or more workers, 83% of employers reported that they revamped or expect to overhaul their health care strategy within the next two years, up from 59% in 2009.
Meanwhile, employers are worried about their workers’ poor health habits. For instance, 67% of employers indicate that employees’ unhealthy behaviors remain a top challenge in sustaining affordable benefit coverage. Furthermore, nearly 58% of employers report that the lack of employee engagement is the key culprit to getting workers engaged in their health, while 31% said it was lackluster financial incentives and 30% believe it was insufficient funds for health promotion programs.
“Employers frustrated with high costs and limited employee interest in personal health management will be forced to take more aggressive steps to drive down cost increases while keeping workers healthy and productive. Building a healthy workforce has to be a team effort with both employers and their workers actively involved,” says Helen Darling, president, National Business Group on Health.
Other key findings include:
- Nearly 67% of companies feel that vendors fall short with programs designed to change member behavior to drive more efficient use of health care services.
- Almost two-thirds (66%) of employers identify vendor programs designed to change member behavior related to making healthy lifestyle decisions as not at all or only slightly effective.
- Fifty-seven percent of employers also consider vendors not at all or only slightly effective at driving care to high-quality providers.
