Wellness Incentives and the High Cost of Healthcare Essay

Xxx utilized wellness programs to promote healthy behaviors (McCarthy & Klein, 2010, p. 3). These wellness programs reduced the need for expensive acute and specialty care.

The proposal uses techniques through a MAP-IT technique and uses SMART goals to implement their initiative. When writing goals using the SMART goal process nurses must evaluate their goals based on the time frame they need to apply their desired outcomes (Healthedpartners, 2014). These goals for community health promotion programs should be specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time sensitive goals for community designs. A weakness noted is that when navigating through the website of Healthy People 2020 there appears to be an overwhelming amount of information and some of it appears to be re-iterated from page to page. I believe that maybe this can be condensed between the topics and objectives and the leading health indicators. Healthy People 2020 has over 42 topic areas with 1200 objectives with a smaller selection noted to be the leading health indicators. This can be very confusing for the reader when trying to navigate. When reviewing the progress update of the health indicators I noticed that there was a weakness here that only 4 indictors exceeded their target goals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of Healthy People.gov,

In order to improve healthcare nationally and cut cost spending, preventative care and wellness should be at the fore front of every healthcare organization. Recommendations to emphasize preventative and wellness services include building a workplace that support healthy lifestyles, expand the roles of advanced providers, and expand preventative services at no cost.

Every individual in the world deserves to enjoy health and wellness. Maintaining or achieving proper health needs enables individuals to be productive at work and leisure. Traditionally, many people have had barriers obtaining adequate healthcare due to economic constraints or personal inconveniences. Despite impressive technological advances in medicine, the challenge of delivering quality healthcare to the Americans continues to be debated amongst the nation’s political and healthcare leaders. The aging baby-boomers and the increased number of uninsured people add to the equation of population growth which results in limited access to primary healthcare for the entire public. On the

An employee can help reduce the cost of health cost by doing several things. There has been an outcry from organizations due to the rising number of competitors with high expenses catering for health benefits during employment periods and on retiring. The employee can be of great help by being participative in the programs set by their employers to benefit more from other advantages far from health costs (Kerzner, 2013). Some of the choices an employee may consider to help control health costs are by boosting consumerism, use technology to manage benefits, and indulge in fitness and health programs.

Also, an upstream approach to health care in the United States would promote a healthy lifestyle not just for certain individuals, but for the wider population; also bridging the gap between all groups and classes, ensuring everyone has access to proper health care and healthy

About 40 to 50% of adults in America are at risk for diseases such as stroke, kidney failure, heart attack, heart failure and obesity. Most of these diseases are brought on by hypertension which is brought on by unhealthy eating choices, poor diet and little to no exercise which has devastating effects on the body. Approximately 7 out of 10 Americans is prescribed or takes a prescription pill daily, half of those are diet related illnesses such a diabetes and one third of those individuals is obese. Two trillion medical-care costs are because of chronic diseases most of which are lifestyle habits/choices. Obesity in America costs about taxpayers about $123 billion via Medicare and Medicaid. Now that obesity has risen at an alarming rate, in some cases obesity is considered a disability for those that are physically or mentally impaired by it. Debatably a preventable disease with proper education on food, diet and exercise

The Affordable Care Act also produced the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council, which gives federal leadership to engross states, communities, and private partners in building a happy and healthier America through the guidance of the National Prevention Strategy; a plan for guaranteeing Americans are in good health at every period of their life. The Prevention and Public Health Fund is reinforcing programs that assist our health care system change from placing emphasis on illness and disease to one built on wellness and

The Affordable Care Act made changes to current health plans to show additional support for wellness programs. These changes continue to enable employers to add incentives for healthy living by reimbursing employees for gym memberships or giving a reward to those who complete a health assessment showing the employee is currently in good health. The changes ensure that wellness programs are simple to understand and reasonable accommodations must be made so that all workers can be included in the programs. A final change made increased the reward amount to 30% of health coverage cost, and the reward for programs that reduce smoking habits was increased to 50%. (United States Department of Labor, 2014).

Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the world, the health of the average American, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.

In 2010, Healthy People 2020 was started by the Department of Human Health Services. Health programs and research topics were instituted to help Americans live healthier and longer lives (CDC, 2014). The 42 topics presented are all very important in maintaining the goals set by Healthy People 2020. If these programs were to be cut or budget restraints imposed on them, the impact would be felt by all Americans. There would be more unhealthy people, preventable chronic diseases would be more prevalent, and education and health associated programs would be

Seven in ten deaths in the United States, are attributable to chronic disease (“Leading Causes” 1). These diseases are not on account of bacteria or viruses, which could be treated with an appropriate prescription or vaccine. Chronic conditions are developed through unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors such as a lack of exercise, poor nutrition, poor sleeping habits, and substance use (e.g. tobacco). Consequently, seven in ten of every death can be prevented with changes in lifestyle. The CDC states that these conditions, “are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems” (“Chronic Disease” 1). Although these conditions have clear and definite causes (knowing the exact reason and “cure” for them), they are becoming more prevalent rather than domesticated. According to Wu and Green, “Between 2000 and 2030 the number of Americans with chronic conditions will increase by 37 percent, an increase of 46 million people” (1). This increase comes with an increase in health care costs: the CDC reported that the U.S. spent three trillion dollars on health care in 2014 (“Health Expenditures” 1). 86% of these costs was associated with these conditions (“Prevention” 1). Despite there being a range of causes of why patients make these choices, one issue that may be less familiar to others is the lack of knowledge in preventative medicine among health care professionals. Current training standards are not adequately educating or equipping health care professionals

Financial Support: Corporations; The Foundation will approach corporations with a structured solicitation proposal for sponsorship to support our outreach education program. The Foundation will provide teams to join with various corporations and provide workshops in the same areas aforementioned. We will request that a target group be assigned by each cooperating corporation to our team. That target group will be trained by our professional staff for a minimum of 8 to 12 weeks in health, nutrition and exercise designed to stimulate interest and participants in both the benefits of the program and support among one another. Our program would provide intense training on-site as well as time in the fitness center. In return the Foundation will receive a Foundation grant or honorarium from the specific corporation to fund our school outreach program.

There is no denying the fact that the cost of health care in the United States has been on a constant rise than the wage of the employees that pay to have access to better healthcare. There is the general fear among these employees that if the rising cost of the health care is not brought under control, there will come a time, and some analyst think, the time is already here, when those employees will not be able to afford health care for themselves and their families. This fear of the unknown is particularly evident among those closer to retirement. Employers of labor have for quite sometimes now, been shifting the burden of the high cost of affordable health care to their employees, and that has significantly reduced employee standard of

“Employers also want healthy employees in order to avoid absences, enhance productivity, and improve morale,” (Mujtaba, 2013, p.193). Mujtaba et. al (2013) examined corporate wellness programs specifically within the American workplace. Texas and Florida are the two states with the highest percentage of individuals under the age of 65 without health insurance because the cost is too high. As a result, many employers are implementing workplace health and wellness programs in hopes to lower the costs of their health care plans. An average cost Mujtaba et. al (2013) has found for operating a workplace health and wellness programs per participant range from $50.00 - $150.00 annually. Although, studies have shown if the employee participates in the health and wellness programs, the cost for health insurance plans decrease anywhere from $100.00 - $500.00. Another aspect discovered was “these workers tend to be more productive, have fewer rates of absenteeism, and use less of their health insurance resources,” (Mujtaba et al., 2013, p.193). Due to the implementation of workplace health and wellness programs avast, there are strengths and weaknesses for each unique programs generated. Although, it is apparent the cost per health insurance plan per employee has effectively been lowered after participation in the programs, employees have led healthier lifestyles, and Mujtaba et. al (2013) has discovered the increase in employee productivity as well.