Wellness

Most U.S. health insurers last year would have satisfied the much-disputed spending rules under President Obama's health care reform, according to a new report by a congressional watchdog agency.

In 2009, the Civil Service Employees Association Employee Benefit Fund was at a crossroads. The benefit fund, which provides dental and vision benefits for more than 300,000 public employee union members and their dependents in New York State, was facing a double-digit spike in its health insurance costs and seemed resigned to renewing a policy with an insurer that was not meeting the needs of the fund's 60 employees.

Anticipating the increase in age of covered dependents to 26 starting in 2011, as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the benefits team at Dick's Sporting Goods decided to clean the company's benefit rolls data with a dependent eligibility audit before this provision went into effect and before annual enrollment in the fall of 2010.

Just one generation ago, HIV/AIDS was regarded as a relentless and indiscriminate killer. In the early 1980s, when the federal government first started tracking the disease, a newly diagnosed patient had a maximum two-year life expectancy, and HIV/AIDS related illness was the second-leading cause of death in American men. Today, it's not even in the top 10.

What is it? No, not your vending machine/cafeteria options. Not employee engagement (or lack thereof).

Diane Carruba hasn't been in the same car with her husband in a very long time. She doesn't want them to die together. She doesn't know what would happen to her son. A member of the sandwich generation, Carruba is the primary caregiver to her son - who suffers from ADHD, as well as a seizure disorder that has led to a developmental disability - and also cares for her mother, who is newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease

What do your clients want from their corporate wellness programs? If the first response is lower health care costs, they might be in for a rude awakening. While prescribing a long-term solution, you offer your clients a healthy dose of reality and set the expectation that there is no instant cure.

Athletic trainers may have had their roots on the playing field, but the profession has branched out. Large employers such as Toyota, General Motors, Delta Air Lines and Boeing have used athletic trainers for years to prevent and treat injuries on the production line and manufacturing floor.

Historically, wellness has been associated primarily with weight loss, and since many of us slip right into a food coma come Thanksgiving and don't emerge until multiple holiday parties have left us loosening a belt notch or two, it's no coincidence that EBA features our annual Wellness Challenge issue on the eve of resolution season

When Emily Wert decided to undertake EBA's 2011Wellness Challenge, a 12-week personal health coaching program, she didn't have the usual expectations about what she would learn or accomplish.