The Corporate Wellness Health Plan: How Dallas Fort Worth Texas Businesses Can Achieve Affordable Group Health Insurance

Businesses in Dallas Fort Worth Texas walk a fine line between having a group health plan that will attract and retain valuable employees, and one that the employer and employees can afford.  Businesses have fought the rise in group health insurance premiums by increasing deductibles and dropping payment for coverage of dependents. 

In spite of these moves, most Texas businesses can no longer realistically increase deductibles and the amount that employees must contribute to pay for their group health insurance.  This is is most often the case with small businesses in Dallas Fort Worth.

Yet, there is one very powerful tool that employers and employees can use that will reduce the long term cost of group health insurance.  A corporate wellness plan added to a company's employee benefits program can save a company four dollars in lower group health insurance premiums and lower absenteeism for every dollar spent by the employer.  And the up front costs for a wellness plan are minimal, and can  usually be offset by changes in the group health insurance plan.

The Wellness Driven Health Plan designed by Group Benefits Advisors for Texas businesses is simple to implement, requires no additional personnel or specialized ttraining, and rewards employees and dependent spouses for maintaining or iinitiating healthy lifestyles.  Healthy employees and dependents have fewer health care expenses, and have lower absenteeism.  This translates directly into lower health insurance premiums and reduced lost wages to to illness the employer.

Unlike more complex and expensive employee wellness plans, Group Benefits Advisors'  Wellness Driven Health Plan concentrates solely on weight loss, tobacco cessation, and exercise.  Under this plan, employees and dependent spouses that abstain from tobacco, who maintain an acceptable weight and body mass index, and who exercise are rewarded monetarily and are recognized; those employees who don't are not.

Ultimately, employees who do maintain an acceptable weight and BMI, who  exercise, and who refrain from tobacco will cost the employer less by having fewer health claims and and costly diseases such as diabetes, heart and circulatory conditions, stroke, and cancer.

Ultimately, those employees who do not maintain an acceptable weight and BMI, who  exercise, and who refrain from tobacco will cost their employer  more by having more health claims and and costly diseases such as diabetes, heart and circulatory conditions, stroke, and cancer. 

Since those employees who do not maintain an acceptable weight and BMI, who  exercise, and who refrain from tobacco also cost the their fellow employees  more by having more  health claims and and costly diseases such as diabetes, heart and circulatory conditions, stroke, and cancer.  This is because a single major health claim from one employee or dependent for a preventable disease can amount to hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in health insurance claims and lost wages.  

A single preventable health insurance claim can result in major increases in health insurance premiums that can haunt the employer and healthy employees for years to come.  It seems unfair that a single employee that does not feel accountable for maintaining a healthy lifestyle can have this impact on their fellwo employees' and their employer's health insurance premiums, but that is the reality.

Group Benefits Advisors'  Wellness Driven Health Plan helps add back accountability and fairness to group health plans by rewarding (and thereby lowering the cost) to employees who hold themselves accountable for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and to not rewarding (and therefore increasing the cost) to employees who do not maintain a healthy lifestyle.

For more information about Group Benefits Advisors' Wellness Driven Health Plan and for a no-obligation employee benefits consultation, employers are encouraged to contact Mike Chapman at Group Benefits Advisors,  or (888) 398-6246.