Tax Credits for Wellness.

In the near future, the federal government might offer help to employers looking to begin a wellness program. the help would take the form of tax breaks to offset program costs.

A current United States  Senate bill would give businesss a substantial tax break for beginning wellness programs. Dubbed the Healthy Workforce Act, it calls for an business tax credit of up to $200 per worker enrolled in a newly developed wellness program.

For bigger firms, there is the $200 credit for the first 200 workers and up to $100 per staff member thereafter. to qualify for the full credit, your wellness program would have to feature -

• health risk (assessment|appraisal}s

• worker education drives (e.g., targeted mailings, web-based tools)

• behavior change programs (e.g., tobacco use cessation, weight control, health coaches), and

• “meaningful” participation incentives (e.g., lower co-pays).

Qualified businesss 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 has been bogged down in committee.

If and when the bill is ratified, businesss could claim the federal tax credit the following year.

In the meantime, whether or not your organization already has a formal wellness program, there are proven ways to make wellness part of the company culture. Best of all, they don’t have to cost an additional cent.

Wellness town meetings

It’s often said that successful wellness programs start at the top of the organization. Reason -  Employees choose up fast on whether management practices what it preaches when it comes to wellness.

When the people  in management are smokers, obese or simply reluctant to talk about health issues, it’s a tough sell to get staff members engaged in taking control of their health.

That’s the idea behind the wellness town meeting.

Once a week (or once a month), everybody in the corporation attends a short meeting to discuss their own recent efforts to get healthier.

Managers ordinarily go first, to break the ice about discussing some potentially sensitive issues like dieting or quitting tobacco use.

In most organizations, the meetings are arranged to encourage casual, free-flowing conversation.

One key -  People  speak from where they’re seated, rather than standing up front, with all eyes staring at them.

Some organizations take a more formal approach, which can 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 program has inspired a lot of folks to lose weight. for additional on the firm’s program, click here.

Free tests and screenings

While there’s no substitute for having employees undergo comprehensive health risk (assessment|appraisal}s, 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, employers can get their staff members screened for free. Through the American Academy of Dermatology’s National Melanoma and Skin Cancer Screening program, volunteer physicians perform skin cancer screenings at no cost.

Similarly, other medical associations and public health agencies offer free or nominal-cost screenings for a variety of other common conditions.