How much do worksite health promotion programs cost employers?
Goetzel: There are a number of ways to address this question. I like to start by asking employers how much they’re currently spending on healthcare per employee during the course of a year. Most employers have a good handle on their costs, but it varies from organization to organization. Depending on the size and quality of an organization’s benefit plan, they’ll spend anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 per employee, per year on healthcare delivery. The next question I like to ask is, “How much of what you’re spending on healthcare should be invested in disease prevention and health promotion?” A long pause usually follows this question because most employers haven’t thought about healthcare spending in terms of prevention. Off the cuff, 10 percent is a common response among employers. If you do the math, 10 percent of $2,500 or $5,000 is a pretty generous amount to spend on prevention. In most cases, however, employers just aren’t spending enough on disease prevention and health promotion
