Financial benefits to employees

The short- and long-term costs of chronic diseases. Diabetes, for instance, has a known cost. The American Diabetes Association says for every dollar a healthy person spends on healthcare, a diabetic employee will spend $2.30. Obesity is also known to raise medical costs by 41 percent and boost prescription drug costs by 80 percent. In fact, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says almost 10 percent of U.S. medical costs are attributed to obesity.
Wellness programs reduce health risks. A brand new study conducted by Principal Wellness Company of 12,000 adults, found that participants in comprehensive workplace wellness programs achieve a significant reduction in health risks in as little as 18 months. For individuals participating in one-on-one health coaching, more than one in three (34 percent) moved from a high risk status to a lower risk category. This shift significantly decreases their likelihood to develop diabetes, heart attack or stroke. The percent of participants considered low-risk increased by more than 11 percent.
How wellness can help employees free up funds for additional savings. By spending less on healthcare today, employees have more money to set aside for retirement. Take, for example, the case of someone who smokes 10 cigarettes a day. Using the calculator at www.smokefree.gov, if he quits and diverts what he had been spending on cigarettes ($5.73 a pack) to a retirement account, that savings would amount to an estimated $12,773 in additional retirement savings over the course of 10 years.
Ways improved health can help to reduce healthcare expenses during retirement. Those reduced costs can help make retirees' savings last longer. That's a huge benefit in light of the Employee Benefit Research Council's estimate that a typical, moderately healthy retired couple will need to have saved over $250,000 just to address unreimbursed healthcare expenses (and premiums) throughout an average retirement.

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