Wellness Programs : Tax Credits for Wellness.
In the near future, the federal government may offer help to corporations looking to begin a wellness program. The help would take the form of tax breaks to offset wellness program costs.
A current USA Senate bill would give employers a substantial tax break for beginning health promotion programs. Dubbed the Healthy Workforce Act, it calls for an employer tax credit of up to $200 per staff member enrolled in a newly created health promotion program.
For larger firms, there is the $200 credit for the first 200 staff members and up to $100 per staff member thereafter. To qualify for the full credit, your health promotion program would’ve to feature –
• health risk appraisals
• staff member education drives (e.g., targeted mailings, online tools)
• behavior change programs (e.g., smoking cessation, weight control, health Coaches), and
• “meaningful” participation incentives (e.g., lower co-pays).
Licensed corporations would be able to claim the tax credit for up to 10 years after starting a wellness program.
The bill has enjoyed bipartisan support, but like many things in Washington, the parties disagree over how to fund the cost of the tax credit. As a result, it’s been bogged down in committee.
When and when the bill is ratified, employers could claim the federal tax credit the following year.
In the meantime, whether or not your organization already has a formal health promotion program, there are proven ways to make wellness part of the organization culture. Best of all, they don’t have to cost an extra cent.
Health Promotion town meetings
It’s often said that successful wellness programs start at the top of the business. Reason – Workers select up fast on whether senior level management practices what it preaches when it comes to wellness.
If the individuals in upper-level management are smokers, obese or simply reluctant to talk about health issues, it’s a tough sell to get workforce engaged in taking control of their health.
That’s the idea behind the wellness town meeting.
Once a week (or once a month), everyone in the organization attends a short meeting to discuss their own recent efforts to get healthier.
Managers generally go first, to break the ice about discussing some potentially sensitive issues like dieting or quitting tobacco use.
In most corporations, the meetings are arranged to encourage casual, free-flowing conversation.
One key – Individuals speak from where they’re seated, rather than standing up front, with all eyes staring at them.
Some corporations take a more formal approach, which could also work. For example, at Old National Bank in Indiana, folks file into an auditorium to face their worst enemy, the scale.
Each week, everybody at the firm – from seasoned managers to the newest hires – comes in to get weighed. The only one who sees the number on the scale is the person getting weighed. Even so, the wellness program has inspired a lot of folks to lose weight.
Free tests and screenings
While there’s no substitute for having staff undergo robust health risk appraisals, it’s also wise to home in on screening for common conditions that aren’t necessarily lifestyle related.
Example – skin cancer. It’s not just sun worshippers who are at risk of the most common (and in its early stages, treatable) form of cancer. Heredity plays a part. So does luck.
Fortunately, businesss can get their workers screened for free. Through the American Academy of Dermatology’s National Melanoma and Skin Cancer Screening program, volunteer doctors perform skin cancer screenings at no cost.
Likewise, other medical associations and public health agencies offer free or nominal-cost screenings for a selection of other common conditions.
