In the near future, the federal government might offer help to businesss looking to start a wellness program. The help would take the form of tax breaks to offset wellness program costs.
A current USA Senate bill would give businesss a substantial tax break for starting health promotion programs. Dubbed the Healthy Workforce Act, it calls for an business tax credit of up to $200 per staff member enrolled in a newly developed health promotion program.
For bigger firms, there is the $200 credit for the first 200 employees and up to $100 per worker thereafter. To qualify for the full credit, your health promotion program would’ve to feature -
o health risk assessments
o staff member education drives (e.g., targeted mailings, web-based tools)
o behavior change programs (e.g., use of tobacco cessation, weight control, health Coaches), and
o ”meaningful” participation incentives (e.g., lower co-pays).
Qualified employers would be able to claim the tax credit for up to 10 years after beginning a health promotion program.
The bill has enjoyed bipartisan support, but like many things in Washington, the parties disagree over how to fund the cost of the tax credit. As a result, it’s been bogged down in committee.
If and when the bill is ratified, businesss could claim the federal tax credit the following year.
In the meantime, whether or not your business already has a formal health promotion program, there are proven ways to make wellness part of the business culture. Best of all, they don’t have to cost an extra cent.
Wellness town meetings
It’s often said that successful wellness programs begin at the top of the organization. Reason – Staff Members choose up fast on whether upper-level management practices what it preaches when it comes to wellness.
When the people in executive management are smokers, obese or simply reluctant to talk about health issues, it’s a tough sell to get employees engaged in taking control of their health.
That’s the idea behind the wellness town meeting.
Once a week (or once a month), everybody in the company attends a short meeting to discuss their own recent efforts to get healthier.
Managers normally go first, for break the ice about discussing some potentially sensitive issues like dieting or quitting smoking.
In most businesses, the meetings are arranged to encourage casual, free-flowing conversation.
One key – Individuals speak from where they’re seated, rather than standing up front, with all eyes staring at them.
Some companies take a more formal approach, which can also work. For example, at Old National Bank in Indiana, folks file into an auditorium to face their worst enemy, the scale.
Each week, everybody at the firm ?.” from seasoned managers to the newest hires ?.” comes in to get weighed. The only one who sees the number on the scale is the person getting weighed. Even so, the health promotion program has inspired a lot of folks to lose weight.
Free tests and screenings
While there’s no substitute for having workers undergo comprehensive health risk appraisals, it’s also wise to home in on screening for common conditions that aren’t necessarily lifestyle related.
Example – skin cancer. It’s not just sun worshippers who are at risk of the most common (and in its early stages, treatable) form of cancer. Heredity plays a part. So does luck.
Fortunately, businesss can get their staff members screened for free. Through the American Academy of Dermatology’s National Melanoma and Skin Cancer Screening program, volunteer physicians perform skin cancer screenings at no cost.
Similarly, other medical associations and public health agencies offer free or nominal-cost screenings for a variety of other common conditions.