As the cost for insurance rises, so does the bar to qualify and participate in employer sponsored wellness programs, so not only is the cost an issue, employers in order to keep costs down are also using wellness programs for employee participation, with some even mandating participation in order to either have coverage or get a discount on the employee portion of the premium. BD
Fewer American workers are getting health insurance through their jobs, either their own or that of a family member. A new study by Elise Gould, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, finds that more than 3 million fewer Americans under 65 had employer-sponsored health insurance in 2007 than in 2000. Over that time, the number of uninsured workers has grown by 4.1 million. Barely three Americans in five under 65 now get health insurance via their work.
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Hi Barbara,
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering lately whether or not health insurance should be tied to employment. On one hand, it's a very good way to attract talent to businesses and we now have older employees "working for benefits", but on the other hand, having it provided through employers might not make sense as we see the traditional workplace changing right before our eyes.
What do you think?
Mary Pat
Mary Pat Whaley
www.managemypractice.com
No doubt there are people working for insurance and marrying for the same reason. I posted too about couples divorcing for Medicaid too, sad state of affairs on that one, but it was the only way procedures and treatments could be covered.
ReplyDeleteSmall employers wrestle with insurance coverage too. They hate the administration of it as it takes time from their normal course of business to work with it, thus more internal costs and that is why so many are dropping coverage and in some cases it is eating into profitability too, where as if they continue to offer insurance, they can no longer stay in business at the insurance is eating up profits, so they don't really have a choice other than to close up shop.
Many employers are offering wellness programs administered by 3rd parties and making participation mandatory, but still even with 3rd parties there's still administrative time and even though the numbers are anonymous to the employers without names, it doesn't take much to figure out who's on sick leave for some treatments and procedures as well.
The bar is also being raised with risk management too and there will be all types of monitoring devices entering the picture soon to drive employees to lose weight, exercise, etc. which in whole is not a bad idea, but when it it mandated and tracked with electronic devices in order to maintain or qualify for insurance it borders on becoming intrusive technology.
Being I am a code writer, it is no surprise to me how this becomes quickly integrated for the sake of saving money and there's nobody minding the shop here, and thus you may have conflicts arise between the wellness folks and the primary care MD the patient sees, and then of course the wellness agency will make efforts to coordinate with the primary MD, which is more time that he/she doesn't have as they are already cramming as much information and time into that 15 minute time slot with the patient as is.
I have even witnessed at some small companies a beloved long time employee become somewhat of an enemy of the owners, simply due to the fact that their medical bills and claims are running up the costs for others, and that too is a sad state of affairs. Joe, who has been the long time faithful always there employee now is looked at no longer as a valued asset, but rather as a liability now as his health is driving up the cost for everyone else. His life style may or may not contribute at all to the situation, but again, he's now a liability instead of an asset due to the rising costs of insurance, and there's the possibility of Joe breaking the bank too. Joe's healthcare costs could be the one single liability to remove what narrow profit margins are left in the company by the time the insurance rates are increased for all to cover risk management costs.
We should all pretty much clearly have the picture today that employers are not interested in our health, they are looking at the bottom line, money, and if folks happen to get healthier in the course of saving money, then that is viewed as an asset, it is not the other way around like we would all like it to be, like the way our primary care physician approaches better health with our consultations. Our primary care physician is our best friend out there to help us and unfortunately their hands are tied today to where they can only go so far in so many instances and their payment contracts are not increasing either.