Healthcare reform could impact wellness programs

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Company wellness programs, designed to coax workers to eat better, smoke less and exercise more, could undergo transformations of their own under healthcare reform proposals under consideration in Congress.

Efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and expand coverage to millions of uninsured could lead some wellness programs to expand and others to constrict, experts say.

Some two-thirds of large U.S. companies offer some sort of wellness program to lower the health insurance costs, combat absenteeism and boost productivity.

In Congress, lawmakers are grappling to make five separate healthcare bills into versions that can pass the Senate and House of Representatives. They are trying to trim costs, find ways to cover a price tag of $1 trillion or more and gather Republican support for a Democratic-backed government-run public insurance option to cover about 46 million uninsured.

But experts warn the public insurance option could induce some companies to drop employer-based insurance coverage and associated wellness plans.

'USE THE GOVERNMENT PLAN'

"Certainly there are employers now that don't offer healthcare benefits, and if there's a public plan in place, undoubtedly that number will go up," said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, an advocacy group for human rights in the workplace. "Some employers will certainly say, 'I'm out of here. Use the government plan.'"

Attempts in Congress to thwart that possibility include a proposal to require employers to pay an 8 percent of payroll "fee" if they choose not to provide health benefits to workers.