Wellness Saves Nebraska Company Health Care Costs

Whether or not we Kucinichify our health coverage system, we could all keep health care costs down by emulating the wellness program at Lincoln Industries in Lincoln, Nebraska. A sharp Madville Times reader forwards this CNN report on the company's success in getting employees healthier and cutting their health coverage bills:

Lincoln Industries has three full-time employees devoted to "wellness," and offers on-site massages and pre-shift stretching.

Most unusual of all: The company requires all employees to undergo quarterly checkups measuring weight, body fat and flexibility. It also conducts annual blood, vision and hearing tests....

The company ranks workers on their fitness, from platinum, gold and silver down to "non-medal." To achieve platinum, they must reach fitness goals and be nonsmokers -- and the company offers smoking cessation classes.

For employees, reaching platinum means a three-day, company-paid trip each summer to climb a 14,000-foot peak in Colorado. This year, 103 qualified, the most ever. And 70 made the climb.

For the company, the payoff is significantly lower health-care costs. The company pays less than $4,000 per employee, about half the regional average and a savings of more than $2 million. That makes the $400,000 Lincoln Industries spends each year on wellness a bargain.

"The return on investment is extraordinary," [Lincoln Industries President Hank] Orme says.

The investment in "wellness" pays other dividends, according to Orme. He says fitter workers are more productive, have better morale and are safer. As evidence, he points to worker's compensation claims. Ongoing safety training and an increasingly fit workforce have pushed worker's comp costs down from $500,000 five years ago to less than $10,000 so far this year [David S. Martin, CNN medical producer, "'Wellness' a Healthy Investment for Company," CNN.com, 2008.07.25].

Lincoln Industries doesn't require its employees to participate, but wellness director Tonya Vyhlidal hints at the social, not individualist, nature of the program. "...[S]ooner or later, she says, the company's 'culture' attracts most employees to live healthier lives."

We should still do more to take care of each other when we do get sick. But we can also recognize our obligation to ourselves and the people counting on us (family, friends, employers, the whole society) to stay healthy and minimize our need for health care services in the first place.