Documenting health improvement in order to decrease insurance costs

Many companies have begun implementing health improvement programs to decrease health insurance costs. With obesity on the rise, the cost of health insurance continues to increase to pay for the risks associated with obesity. Several companies have noticed that their overweight or obese employees increase their overall health insurance. In fact, an employee who has poor lifestyle choices like smoking will also increase your company's health insurance. The cost of the increased health insurance will be paid by the employees. The chances for incentives and raises will be decreased to make up for the overwhelming group health insurance premium your company is paying.

Health improvement programs encourage employees to slim down and take steps toward improving their health. Several health insurance companies have begun lowering the group insurance premium to companies who are taking an active role in improving employee health. In order to obtain lower health insurance premiums, you need to document the health improvement program.

Begin by having each employee fill out a form that includes four things:

• Their health goal


• Their current health status


• The time it will take to reach their goal


• An evaluation at the end of the program

Starting with the goal, encourage each employee to do something that will improve their health. This could be something simple like taking the stairs everyday or walking for 30 minutes. Other people may choose loftier goals like losing 30 pounds or giving up smoking. No matter what the goal is, inform the employee to pick a goal that is reasonable.

Once the goal has been selected, each employee should have a physical exam to determine their current health status. You can hire individuals to come in and perform physical exams on your staff and also provide them with a workout regime for their current health status and their goal.

Set a timeline for the health improvement program. Perhaps you would like to start new health improvement programs each quarter or bi-annually, no matter what you decide, be sure your employees are selecting goals that can be obtained in the given amount of time.

Once the form is filled out, keep them in a file to pull out at the end of the health improvement program. At the end of the program have each employee fill out the evaluation portion of the sheet. In this section they will include information on if they obtained their goal and how long it took to obtain their goal. They also need to include the steps they took to achieve their goal and what they plan to do to maintain the new healthy lifestyle they are now living.

There should be a final section on the form for the employer to fill out information. This section should include information on the quality of life the employee had before the health improvement program and the qualify of life they are now enjoying. Typically, a general sense of happiness and satisfaction will follow a person who has taken steps toward improving their health.

After the program has ended, contact your health insurance provider and submit the forms to them. If you have a health insurance provider who offers a discount for healthy lifestyle choices, then you will notice your group health insurance premium begin to decrease. If your health insurance provider does not offer this incentive, shop around a little. You may be able to find new health insurance that suits the needs of your company and will offer discounts for the hard work of creating a health improvement plan in your company. Be sure to offer your employees incentives or rewards for their efforts toward improving their health.