Healthy Perceptions & Insights

After years of uncertainty and turmoil, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has finally issued guidelines for employer sponsored wellness plans. And guess what? The guidelines closely follow the lead of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The initial response from businesses and their organizational representatives was relief — since the EEOC had seemingly been heading in a direction quite opposite that which the White House had envisioned for wellness plans. The controversy focused on supposed differences in emphasis between PPACA and its supporters, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. For years, the EEOC appeared to be ready to boldly challenge wellness plans on the basis that they discriminated against certain protected employees.

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Wellness programs have certainly captured the imaginations of benefits managers, with an ever increasing number of companies offering one type or another. Yet engagement studies show that, in most cases, management is more enthusiastically embracing wellness plans than are employees.

Recent data culled from 562 consumers who work for companies with wellness plans offers at least a partial explanation: Covered employees expect plans to include true incentives.  The survey from HealthMine found that three-quarters of respondents would engage more fully in a plan that included incentive levels, with rewards for achieving goals such as maintaining ideal weight, adhering to a drug regimen for addressing chronic diseases, and not smoking.  More on this story: http://bit.ly/1zEs9zQ