Employers are partly responsible for the rising cost of healthcare in the United States, consulting executive Wally Gomaa said at the 2012 Employer Health & Human Capital Congress.
The expert also told attendees that there are at least some avenues available to those seeking to lower costs, Employee Benefit News reports. One major cause that contributes to various medical problems is a tendency toward obesity, according to Gomaa, because it leads to diabetes.
Noting that per person sugar consumption in the nation has gone from an average of 115 pounds per year in the mid-1980s to 205 pounds in the late 2000s, Gomaa suggests that employers need to encourage health in their employees or they will see the consequences when the time comes to pay for their health insurance benefits.
Gomaa stated that the average corporate cost of treating an employee with type 2 diabetes is $22,500, compared to $1,700 for a healthier worker. He also pointed to organizations with high obesity rates as those which suffer from low productivity, suggesting the indirect effects of employee wellness also have their cost.
Private and public employers alike may wish to encourage healthy behaviors and habits, supporting their employees to avoid a harmful cost trajectory. In particular, Gomaa states that one employer in the Midwest experienced a 35 percent drop in employee hospitalizations and a 30 percent decrease in pharmacy utilization after implementing a program to encourage employee health.
