Employee health

Email this page to a friend

Want news about Employee health and more e-mailed to you? Click here for free email alerts

NewsTarget survey results, part 3: Making health changes that positively affect work performance Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

This is a great investment in employee health. Corporate wellness All of this comes down to corporate wellness programs. In the near future, corporations are going to become increasingly involved in the health of their employees. We're seeing this in many different areas right now. Some corporations are refusing to hire employees who are obese because of the increased healthcare costs associated with obesity or diabetes.

Reducing the need for medical time off work Another big problem in the corporate world that's related to employee health is sick days or time off for medical reasons. In the United States, our corporations are going bankrupt due to ridiculous healthcare costs. General Motors, for example, is about to go bankrupt. It has already been reduced to junk bond status, largely because of the expense it has to pay for the health care of its employees. Part of that is the fact that we still have a pharmaceutical monopoly in this country, so everyone who buys prescription drugs in the U.S.

The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers Katharine Greider See book keywords and concepts

Chamber of Commerce who've fought shoulder to shoulder with drugmakers on other issues but are fed up with increases in drug spending for their employee health plans. By some accounts, the debate has turned just a little bit ugly. "They think it's their life's blood," says one industry lobbyist who supports legislation that would sharply limit drugmakers' access to the thirty-month stay to protect patented medicines against generic competition. "In some cases they have taken it very personally.

The Cancer Industry Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

Jane McGill, head of the employee health Service, wrote in her 1976 annual report that there had been certain "environmental problems." One of these, she noted, was that "asbestos-containing pipe-covering had been removed by the contractors by dry technique and not according to OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] precautions." "It was determined that one area was contaminated with asbestos fibers," she said (McGill, 1976).

The New Holistic Health Handbook: Living Well in a New Age Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss See book keywords and concepts

A comprehensive health promotion program can make an impact on employee health, and subsequently, corporate health care expenditures. By the same token, wellness programs offer a new perspective for the health care provider. Historically, the major focus of medical care has been on the individual, the patient who needs to be cured of a disease. It has not been on the prevention of disease or the promotion of a healthy lifestyle.

The costs related to poor employee health is motivating that concern. A study conducted by the Center for Disease Control revealed that lifestyle-related diseases result in the highest percentage of deaths for those under age 65. Experts now agree that chronic lifestyle-related diseases are best addressed through preventative medicine and health promotion. For example, smoking is related to cardiac, vascular, and respiratory disease, and twenty percent of all cancers. It is estimated that the average pack-a-day smoker costs industry a minimum of $625 per employee each year.

The organization's environment directly affects employee health. Let's consider the individual who is initially successful with his decision to quit smoking. He returns to the working setting where he is surrounded by smokers who may not be helpful or supportive. The organization supports the negative behavior of smoking with cigarette vending machines and smoking lounges. The organization's norm then appears to be at odds with the individual's efforts to quit smoking.

Since each company is different, each has unique employee health needs and interests. It would not be cost-effective for a corporation to develop a wellness program that failed to meet their unique needs or contained unnecessary components. A comprehensive analysis done prior to program development can prevent these failings. A number of corporations across the country have developed wellness programs for their employees and are claiming substantial savings.

Her areas of expertise include senior health care services, community and corporate health education and hospital and corporate employee health promotion programming. Linda is currently Director of Wellness Services for John Muir Memorial Hospital in Walnut Creek, California, where she is responsible for the planning, development, marketing and implementation of corporate health care cost-containment strategies and programming and for individual and community wellness programs. The Health Care Contract: A Model for Sharing Responsibility Jerry A. Green, J.D.

Rockefeller Medicine Men: Medicine and Capitalism in America E. Richard Brown See book keywords and concepts

Steel companies, banks, airlines, and most industries were unhappy about the 10 to 25 percent a year increase in the cost of employee health insurance benefits.28 And unions were concerned because every increase in health insurance rates (paid for through fringe benefits) cuts into potential pay raises for their members. Other health services "consumer" groups also criticized the shrinking proportion of physicians and services devoted to primary care and the rising expenses that consumers had to pay out of their own pockets, in spite of increasing insurance coverage.

Oxymorons: The Myth of a U.S. Health Care System J.D. Kleinke See book keywords and concepts

The Federal employee health Benefits Program—or "Feeb," as its acronym FEHB is pronounced—provides federal workers and their dependents in this largest of employer purchasing pools with a chunk of money for coverage. With this money, they shop for health coverage from among hundreds of competing health insurers and plans. (You know you work in a dysfunctional industry when the federal government's human resource activities are a source of innovative ideas.) Tax parity for all Americans in purchasing their health coverage—and supplemental medical services—would create a nationwide FEHB.

Health Care Meltdown: Confronting The Myths and Fixing Our Failing System Bob LeBow, M.D., M.P.H. See book keywords and concepts

From the viewpoint of corporate America, it seems obscene (and uncompetitive) that General Motors spends nearly $3000 for employee health care for every car it produces. But that figure helps bring home the point about perverse incentives. We should be looking at health care from the perspective of the nation as a whole, not just from the point of view of the health care industry. We need to consider breaking the perverse link between employment and health insurance, a link which is not only an accident and unique to America but is also actually hurting U.S.

The largest subsidy to the insured (and not enjoyed by the uninsured) comes through the tax-free insurance payments made by employers for employee health insurance. This federal subsidy for those with employment-based health insurance amounted to about $140 billion in 2001, or approximately 10 percent of total health care spending. But everyone pays taxes, so the taxes paid by the uninsured, as well as the self-insured, go to pay for health insurance for those with employer-based plans.

Staying Healthy in a Risky Environment: The New York University Medical Center Family Guide Arthur C. Upton, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

If you have a needle-stick injury involving any patient, tell your supervisor, or visit the employee health service immediately. It may be possible to minimize the chance of hepatitis or HIV infection by taking appropriate immunizations and medications. Truck Driving Truck drivers, particularly drivers of long-haul tractor trailers, are at risk of accidents (trauma); physical hazards, such as noise and vibration; chemicals, such as fuel emissions; and stress-related factors, including sleep deprivation. Accidents are a primary cause of occupational death and disability among truck drivers.

New York Beth Israel Medical Center. He is also an assistant professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and a consultant in occupational and environmental medicine to the New York City Regional Poison Control Center. In the past, he has served as clinical assistant professor of surgery/emergency medicine and attending physician in emergency medicine at New York University Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital Center. Philip Tierno,Jr., Ph.D.

FAIR USE NOTICE: The research quoted here is provided under the protection of Fair Use provisions and published by the 501(c)3 non-profit Consumer Wellness Center for the purposes of public comment and education. Authors / publishers may submit books for consideration of inclusion here.

TERMS OF USE: Read full terms of use. Citations of text from NaturalPedia must include: 1) Full credit to the original author and book title. 2) Secondary credit to the Natural News Naturalpedia as a research resource and a link to www.NaturalNews.com/np/index.html

This unique compilation of research is copyright (c) 2008 by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center.

ABOUT THE CREATOR OF NATURALPEDIA: Mike Adams, the creator of this NaturalNews Naturalpedia, is the editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's top natural health news site, creator of the Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org), a free downloadable consumer food guide based on natural health principles, author of Grocery Warning, The 7 Laws of Nutrition, Natural Health Solutions, and many other books available at www.TruthPublishing.com, creator of the earth-friendly EcoLEDs company (www.EcoLEDs.com) that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting products, founder of Arial Software (www.ArialSoftware.com), a permission e-mail technology company, creator of the CounterThink Cartoon series (www.NaturalNews.com/index-cartoons.html) and author of over 1,500 articles, interviews, special reports and reference guides available at www.NaturalNews.com. Adams' personal philosophy and health statistics are available at www.HealthRanger.org.