"It's great news, fabulous news," said Phil Riley of East Coast Communications, a construction company with twenty employees. "Our people are going to have thirteen percent more in their paychecks which means that money is going right back in the economy. That's huge in this day and age. We're also trying to build a new building and this decrease is going to make a difference in paying for it."

Pricing in Maine for groups of fewer than 50 people is now dependent on new rating factors for age and geography, a significant change from previous regulations. The result is that groups in rural areas with older employees will likely be paying closer to the real costs of health care as a result of the reform.Groups with younger employees near lower cost hospitals should see more stable or lower pricing.

Other aspects of the Maine health reforms  will be implemented over the coming months and years that also should reduce premiums for the vast majority of employers. Insurance companies are expected to renegotiate pricing with hospitals as well as offer more flexible insurance plans.

WELLNESS DATA 

All the insurance reforms, health plans and wishing do not address the biggest driver of health care costs in Maine and the nation weight, diet and exercise.

As Americans, we're overweight - and not just by a little. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC), 12 states have an obesity rate greater than 30%. In Maine, 25% - 29% are considered obese.

What is more informing is to see the speed with which we have burdened the scales. Take a look at this year-by-year color-coded map slide show and see the progression from 1985 through 2010 and keep an eye on Maine.

We recently met with folks from the Maine Heart Center and learned about Take Charge, their workplace-based cardiovascular risk screening and risk reduction program. Such programs help employees identify immediate health risks should they exist (e.g. high blood pressure, high cholesterol) as well as risk factors employees can work to reduce. Avoiding critical and chronic care will directly improve your insurance premiums.

Getting your co-workers to stop and think about their health and behaviors is no small challenge despite the enormity of the savings and potential wellness. That's one reason we give our customers access to MyWave, a comprehensive library of information you can share with employees in bite size bulletins. Drop us an e-mail for a MyWave test drive.

Also, forward the link below (Health Status) to all your employees It is a free web resource that includes health calculators that make non-judgmental recommendations for improved health.

We ask that you pass along these e-mails to your organization as well as to your own customers and vendors. By understanding the scope of the challenge and strategies for changing behaviors, we all can make a contribution in controlling the cost of doing business.

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7.20.11

As noted above, five percent of people in the United States are responsible for nearly half of all healthcare spending according to a recently released study by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.

Entitled "Understanding U.S. Health Care Spending", the report also states that at the other end of the spectrum, half of all people in the U.S. consume only three percent of all health care spending with their average cost being just $233 per year. By contrast, those in the top 5% averaged $35,820 per person. Those in the top 1% of health care spending averaged $76,476 per person!

When researchers looked at those in the high health care spending categories, they discovered that of those in the top 30% for spending,two-thirds remained there a year later. That suggests that the cost drivers are not so much catastrophic illnesses and accidents but, rather, chronic diseases that can be managed or prevented.

The conclusion of the report would seem self-evident. If we focus our attention on just the five percent who consume half of all health care spending, we can reduce the overall cost of health insurance. If we commit ourselves to healthier eating habits for ourselves and our families, we can get to the root cause of high spending.

On a practical level, simply understanding that what we eat determines how we feel and how much we spend on health care can begin the transformation that reduces costs. For example, a look at the menus of popular fast food restaurants, illustrates the wide array of calorie, fat, sodium, sugar and cholesterol options when ordering their food. 

According to nutritionist Marion Nestle on the web site WebMD, ""If I could teach one thing to people to help them maintain weight, it would be that larger portions have more calories."

Now that's something to chew on.

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