Health Insurance appears to be a standard benefit that most companies provide for their employees. Health insurance exists so that employees are able to take care of themselves when they get sick.  However, companies are realizing that although their health insurance costs are increasing, their employee health is not.  According to the Society for Human Resource Management, A study done by Metlife of their “Employee Benefits Trends” states that those employees that claim that their health is poor have similar access to health insurance as those employees who consider themselves to be in good health.

Therefore simply offering health insurance is not enough to truly lower health care costs. Hence, “Health insurance is not Health Assurance.” Companies are beginning to see this and slowly more and more companies are beginning to implement health and wellness programs into their workplace.  The following are statistics provided by the Society Of Human Resource Management

• One-third (33 percent) of U.S. employers offer a wellness program to their employees, up from about one-fourth (27 percent) in 2005.

• A little more than half (57 percent) of large employers, those with 500 or more employees, have implemented a workplace wellness program, up from 46 percent in 2005.

• Nearly half of employees (46 percent) say they avail themselves of their employer’s wellness program when offered

In fact most employees are eager to participate in Wellness programs, especially when offered incentives such as lower health care costs.

“MetLife surveyed employers and employees in August 2008 and November 2008. More than 1,500 interviews were conducted with benefits decision-makers at companies with two or more employees, representing a mix of industries and geographic regions, and more than 1,300 interviews were conducted with full-time employees, age 21 and over, at companies with a minimum of two employees.”