Benefit Consultants Blog

Health Benefits Consulting will reveal that employee injuries can have a greater effect on immediate financial losses to your company than the future health care costs of heart disease and diabetes.

Studies are suggesting that overweight workers cost their employers more in injury claims than their lean associates.  Researchers have found that the heaviest workers had lost 13 times more workdays due to work related injuries while their medical claims for these injuries were shown to be seven times higher than their fit colleagues.  It appears that overweight workers are more likely to have claims involving injuries to the back, wrist, arms, neck, shoulders, hip, knee and feet than leaner employees.

Some attorneys are warning companies that treating overweight workers differently could lead to discrimination. Health Benefits Consulting will help your company to invest in programs to help obesity while ensuring the program is presented in a positive light and does not offend.  An organization’s success in lowering health care costs and curbing obesity could be highly dependent on how it’s presented.  While fitness programs will be a great benefit for helping overweight workers shed some weight they are also beneficial for overstressed working parents and others who want to be healthy.

Benefit Plans and insurers have responded, in several ways, to the rising costs in connection with the treatment of obesity.  Speak to your professional Health Benefits Consulting firm about the broad coverage now available for the treatment of obesity.  Some companies have implemented programs to assist their employees with reducing weight and improving health.  Employers can offer a weight management program that includes incentives for participation and increased physical activity, weight loss plan discounts together with nurse and weight loss counseling support services. 

Consider programs that provide incentives for participating in specified disease management programs including the use of online health risk assessment questionnaires that allow employees to evaluate their current health and receive suggestions on positive action that may be taken to improve their health.  Employees can accumulate credits that they can use as discounts when redeeming from a selection of health related items. Your HR team may also offer additional incentives in the form of enhanced Benefits or lower health insurance premiums or co-payments.  These programs can include web-based resources that assist employees in creating personalized exercise and fitness programs together with meal planning strategies.

Your expert Health Benefits Consulting group will help your management team meet this challenge with creativity and a commitment to building and maintaining employee satisfaction.  

This article courtesy of Benefit Consultants