It’s little surprise that insurance companies are leading the charge on wellness. Health-care costs are skyrocketing, in Massachusetts and everywhere else. And while some political types are eager to blame this on RomneyCare, the fact is that Massachusetts health care law was never intended to make things cheaper. Cost control was always going to be Phase 2.
Part of cutting costs involves changing how doctors and hospitals work. But a big part is changing the habits of consumers: Encouraging them to eat better, exercise more, get regular checkups, says Phil Edmundson, the CEO of William Gallagher Associates, and a longtime RomneyCare proponent.
Edmundson’s company is trying to be on the leading edge of wellness reforms; it’s using the data from its screenings to set up corporate wellness programs. (Executives get aggregate results, but not individual ones.) The company is trying to create a healthier workplace: Candy is largely gone from corporate kitchens, sugar-sweetened drinks are out of vending machines. The company’s Atlantic Avenue lease is up in two years, and Edmundson is looking for office space with an onsite gym, or architecture that encourages more walking.
And this fall, William Gallagher Associates enlisted pollster David Paleologos to survey 1,100 of its insurance clients, and found a sharply increased interest in wellness programs. About half of respondents said they were planning to implement “health risk assessments.’’ Nearly 40 percent hoped to provide employees with anti-smoking programs, and nearly half were interested in weight-loss programs. Some offered cash incentives, such as money toward health club memberships. Some made employees who took health care screenings eligible for more generous health plans.
