Overweight employees and healthcare costs

Companies are constantly looking for ways to reduce their healthcare costs. Unfortunately for many companies, there isn't a solid answer out there as to how they can reduce healthcare costs. Some companies simply change insurance plans to higher deductibles, which make it more expensive for employees to use it. This will force some employees to stop using their health insurance altogether unless it is for regular vaccinations and prevention check-ups. Several insurance companies will offer discounts to the companies that pay for flu shots and other prevention methods. The hope is that people will stay healthier and that they will not visit the doctor as much. This will decrease the healthcare costs in the process.

Several employers have begun targeting their overweight employees and encouraging them to lose weight. This is because overweight employees tend to have more health problems that other people and they visit the doctor more frequently. Obesity is a problem and most people don't take it seriously. The adipose fat (belly fat) is some of the most dangerous fat you can have on your body because it increases your risk for cancer and a handful of other health problems. The cost to treat cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular diseases is extremely expensive and it will raise your health insurance costs.

The health insurance costs will bump up into a higher risk category, especially if you have several overweight employees. Since it costs a lot of money to treat these diseases, the employer is the one that has to pay for the high insurance costs. Once the employee hits their maximum, they normally don't end up paying as much and the employer is forced to cover the excess costs.

Health insurance plans are designed to treat each employee equally. This means an employee that is in good health (meaning they have a perfect body mass index for their age and height) and doesn't have any major medical issues will pay more money for their health insurance because they have been placed into a pool with their obese coworkers. This seems extremely unfair to the people that only visit the doctor for regular check-ups and prevention exams and vaccinations.

Since there are not rules on how the health insurance is pooled, it actually makes it easier for some people to be obese. The overweight employee is not punished for being obese, but their healthy coworkers are. This is an unfortunate situation for every company. To prevent healthy employees from being punished, several employers have begun health programs. The health programs are designed to make the overweight employees lose weight.

The company will be responsible for finding ways to help the employees to exercise. This could mean you need to establish a company gym in-house or offer discounts to health clubs. You must also be responsible for helping the employees to eat healthier. This doesn't mean you can stop them from grabbing the greasy hamburger; but you can take all the sodas and potato chips out of the vending machines and replace them with healthier options like fruits and vegetables.

Most companies that introduce exercise programs have begun offering incentives to employees that lose weight or improve their life in some way. The incentives actually make some employees think about losing weight and make some effort to actually lose the weight.

In addition to improving your health, losing weight can actually improve your chances of getting a job or a promotion. In a society that is obsessed with youth and good looks, it is not a surprise to hear that overweight employees are often overlooked for positions because people assume they are lazy or sloppy.