Hoping For Healthy Tax Break | Chamber Trust Insurance, chambers of commerce want a business tax deduction for employee wellness programs
If the Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber Insurance Trust have their way, Connecticut companies will receive a state tax deduction for company-funded wellness programs.
While wellness programs have long been recognized as a way to drive down a company’s health care premiums because healthy employees use fewer health care services, only one state — Indiana — offers businesses a tax break for offering employees a wellness program.
Glastonbury’s Chamber of Commerce is among the first of the state’s chambers to drum up excitement about its health and wellness initiatives, called Living Well in Glastonbury. The program works like a competition, challenging teams of five to eat, move and think well. And the biggest score — besides bragging rights and personal health — could come in the form of tax relief.
It’s not counting calories, Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mary Ellen Dombrowski assures, but it is rewarding competitors for things like drinking enough water or eating fish at least two times per week.
Cost Cutting
The program is open to the chamber’s 600 members, town employees and senior citizens. Team members receive a wellness assessment before beginning the program, creating a benchmark from which to measure progress. That progress translates into a score to distinguish winners from losers, but it also creates a bank of data to support the claim that wellness programs cut costs across the board — from reducing co-pays and the amount of prescription drugs a person needs to slashing the number of sick days employees take each year.
“This is really about behavioral modification,” Dombrowski said. “It’s very much a win-win for everyone.”
The Glastonbury chamber program also expects to prove there is a substantial return on investment.
Reducing health care costs by improving wellness among plan participants is not a new concept. Nor is it rocket science. But ConnectiCare is sold on the idea so much that the health care insurer is helping to fund the chamber’s wellness programs that change behaviors and alleviate the costs of largely self-inflicted health problems.
Return On Investment
ConnectiCare President and CEO Mickey Herbert said some studies show a three-to-one payback for wellness programs. And among ConnectiCare’s 250,000 benefit members, Herbert said three-quarters of claims are related to unhealthy lifestyles that result in problems like Type 2 diabetes and respiratory disease. And healthier lifestyle choices, like quitting smoking, can drive those costs down.
“That’s all I need to know,” said Herbert.
According to the Wellness Council of America, a Nebraska-based nonprofit, the cost per employee for an effective wellness program costs between $100 and $150 per year, and produces a return on investment of $300 to $450. In addition to lowering health care premiums, several companies, after introducing wellness programs, reduced employee absenteeism significantly.
Stephen Glick, administrator for the Chamber Insurance Trust, agrees. If people can stay healthy, they can control health care rates to a certain extent, he said.
On Jan. 30, the state’s chambers will meet to share ideas about reducing health care costs for their members, and will be looking to Glastonbury as an example. The First Annual Health & Wellness Conference and Summit, sponsored by the Chamber Insurance Trust, will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Business Expo.
“Now we’re going to share ideas,” Glick said.
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