Boo Hoo! Employers as Baby Sitters
Americans are livid about rising healthcare costs, particularly as food and fuel costs jump and the stock market quivers. But, frankly, where on earth do we get off? We're outraged at something we can absolutely mitigate but expect to be mitigated for us.
For example: Corporate wellness programs are one way companies try to lower healthcare costs by providing incentives for employees to take care of themselves. But the programs can run afoul of the law, reports Human Resource Executive, which follows on an earlier story in the Philadelphia-based Legal Intelligencer that actually warned companies to let the wellness-program trend pass by. From Human Resource Executive:
Todd Alan Ewan and Carolyn M. Plump, both partners in the labor and employment law practice group of the Philadelphia-based law firm Mitts Milavec, argue that wellness programs could violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and even a few others.
Some examples they include in the article are enough to make any employer think twice.
A corporate wellness program does not comply with HIPAA, for example, if it requires an employee to meet specific health criteria, such as losing a certain amount of weight, say Ewan and Plump. The initiative would be lawful, however, if it rewards that employee for taking steps toward losing weight, such as joining a health club.
Others quoted in the story, however, defend wellness programs, so long as employers focus on "rewarding positive behavior without punishing negative behavior."
Employers are now running into trouble for playing baby sitter to generations of Americans, despite the fact that they're footing the bills for our childish antics (an apt term, I think, for our refusal to improve our eating habits, start exercising, quit smoking, and generally take better care of ourselves).
It turns out we're even lying about our bad habits to bilk the corporate wellness system.
The very idea of needing to incentivize health is bogus. We should all be well aware of the benefits of breathing better and living longer. After all, many companies have dealt with the exploding cost of health insurance in recent years by cutting the amount of compensation they pay as wages. So getting healthy means cutting employers' expenses, which means they'll have more, in theory, to spend on wages—which should help with those rising food and fuel costs.
Tags: healthcare | corporate culture | employers
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Reader Comments
Grow Up
Enough of the perpetual infancy. We all want someone to take care of us, if not our employer, then the government. Think again, people. I am responsible for my health, you for yours. Explain to me why I should pay for the consequences of your bad habits?
Corporations are BIGGER than you, unless you elect liberals
Employers (virtually all of them incorporated entities these days) are trying to get rid of the burden of citizen health care plans. Onerous instrusion into your life via the employee handbooks and mandated "wellness" plans are just more "steps" down that road. John McCain is even running on the idea of privatizing all health insurance down to individual policies----buy a "good" one if you can (ha ha) in the open market, individually underwritten, of course, on the medical history of everyone in your family. They'll sell that lemon to you, calling it "more choices".
A single Republican (Bush) appointed two Republicans (Roberts & Alito) to the Supreme Court, where they last year swung a decision in the Goodyear Tire case nullifying the rights of people (women, especially) to sue for pay inequity. Last night, a half-dozen too many Republicans blocked a legislative remedy to this in the Senate. REPUBLICANS WILL RUIN YOU FINANCIALLY ON HEALTH CARE TOO, IF THEY CAN. And remarkably few white Republican men can get it done, just as was the lesson for us on the pay discrimination issue.
Get thee wall-to-wall Democrats (aka, liberals) in The White House and the Congress and do not delay. The entire financial future of your family is at extreme risk if you fail on this, because of health care, not to mention your Social Security.
Either everyone gets Welfare or Big Business Gets Bigger
So, what are the choices for the middle class? Vote in Democrats and everybody gets welfare (paid for by the middle class). Vote in the Republicans, and there are tons of tax breaks for the rich and for Big Business. What is the solution for the middle class?
I like the idea of a wellness program -- I think that healthcare costs over all will go down if there are wellness programs. My feeling -- just my humble opinion because who am I really anyway -- is that the wellness programs aren't all inclusive enough. I don't think it is about rewarding people because they go to the gym -- it is about encouraging people to exercise, eat right, deal with stress, etc. I would love it if my employer sold healthy foods, had fitness activities that appealed to me, and had stress reduction activities -- like yoga, meditation, counselling.
I don't need a reward for trying to do those things -- but I would like it if the programs were available. My employer pays for my gym membership -- but, finding healthy food close by can be a challenge. I would like it if they docked my pay $10 a day and provided healthy meal and snack choices for me that are covered. (No hot dogs or mystery meat). I would also like if they encouraged folks to go meditate or take a time out if they are stressed or upset.
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