Healthy lifestyle incentives can curb health care costs

BY SCOTT HOKANSON
To manage the recent health insurance rate increases across Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod, there are a variety of newly crafted solutions for clients who are struggling to afford the plans they use today. We’ve found that providing incentives for employees to make healthy lifestyle choices is a very effective method to reduce costs.

It’s important to first note that the crisis we are in will not change anytime soon. Medical trends continue to rise, and operating income for insurance carriers are still at a negative. This does not bode well for next year’s rates, when increases will most likely continue to be in the mid-teens.



One opportunity for saving money is to work to bend that medical trend by targeting the users of the insurance, a company’s employees and their families. According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, we know that “health behaviors” make up 50 percent of the influence on medical costs.



Scott Hokanson, vice president, Eastern Benefits Group, a division of Eastern Insurance Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eastern Bank, is a Plymouth resident. He can be reached at shokanson@easternbenefitsgroup.com.


Published in Cape & Plymouth Business December 2009