Wellness programs, in all of their varied forms, have become one of corporate America's most popular strategies for containing healthcare costs, according to a recent Wall Street Journal blog post.
Many employers have been investing in wellness programs and they have been popular among employees too, though there isn't solid evidence that these programs ultimately help curb healthcare costs.
Wellness programs can include a range of healthcare services, from lifestyle coaching to vaccinations to weight loss efforts. According to the blog, 80 percent of employees across the United States find wellness programs appealing, but 62 percent oppose wellness programs when companies require employees to pay higher premiums if they do not participate in them. Seventy-two percent oppose a link between premiums and meeting personal health goals. Thirty-six percent of large firms (200 or more workers) and 18 percent of small firms (3-199 workers) raise premiums when employees do not sign up for wellness programs.
According to the WSJ blog, companies show the most confidence in wellness programs as a cost control strategy. A June 2014 survey of 2,052 firms from the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals the perceived effectiveness of wellness programs at containing employer-sponsored healthcare costs.
Seventy-one percent of employers believe wellness programs are effective, 27 percent believe they are ineffective and 2 percent don't know.