Today, 85% of U.S. companies provide their employees’ health and fitness programs. Corporate fitness programs help alleviate the negative impacts of unhealthy employee behavior, such as obesity and smoking, on health care costs. Improving employee fitness is simply good for business.
Obesity
• Seventy percent of all illnesses are due to lifestyle-related causes such as obesity and physical inactivity.
Source: CDC & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Obese individuals spend more on both health care services and medication than daily smokers and heavy drinkers. They spend 77% more on medications. Only aging has a greater effect--and only on expenditures for medications.
Source: RAND Corporation, 2005.
• Obesity increases costs in the workplace. The annual per capita increase in medical expenditures and absenteeism associated with obesity ranges from $450 to $2,500 per obese employee. The estimated cost of obesity at a firm with 1,000 employees is about $285,000 per year.
Source: IDEA Fitness Journal, January 2006.
Smoking
• Each smoker costs an employer an additional $3,856 a year in health care costs and lost productivity.
Source: Billings Gazette, December 10, 2005.
• Nationwide smoking attributable productivity losses from 1997-2001 cost $92 billion.
Source: Centers for Disease Control, June 2005.
Corporate Fitness Results and ROI
• For every dollar spent on employee fitness and prevention, the ROI yielded an average of $3.48 in direct health care savings.
Source: Benefits and Compensation Digest, December 2004.
• Employees who increased their activity levels from 0-1 times per week to more than 3 times per week reduced their medical claims by an average of $2,202 per year.
Source: Managed Care, 2004.
• U.S. health care costs doubled from 1990 to 2001 and are projected to double by 2012.
Source: Creating Healthy States: Building Healthy Worksites, February 2006.
• In 2006, employer health insurance premiums increased by 7.7%- two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $11,500. The annual premium for single coverage averaged more than $4,200.
Source: National Coalition on Health Care, 2007.
• Employers who invest in worksite health promotion programs can see a return of $3-$6 for every dollar invested over a 2-5 year period. Documented savings are observed in medical costs, absenteeism, worker's comp claims, short-term disability and presenteeism (lower on-the-job efficiency due to employee health problems.)
Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, December 2005.
• The lifetime medical costs related to diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, and stroke among the obese are $10,000 higher than among the non-obese. Among the overweight, lifetime medical costs can be reduced by $2,200 to $5,300 following a 10% reduction in body weight.
Source: The Economics of Obesity, 2001.
• There are over 600 articles that analyze the research and anecdotal evidence of the cost-effectiveness of worksite wellness programs. In a review of 42 of these articles, there has been shown to be a 28% reduction in sick leave absenteeism, 26% reduction in use of the health care benefit, 30% reduced worker's comp claims and disability management and reduced presenteeism losses.
Source: The American Journal of Health Promotion, 2003.