Liz Sponseller, Managing Director, Abatek
Humana Vitality has helped our company save money, pay more attention to the general health of the team, and the individuals. We are in the Atlanta, Georgia Area, we have about 15 full time employees here. It has helped the employees gain some knowledge and education on their own personal health and how it can affect their wallets as well.
Matt Schwartz, President, Schwartz & Associates
We are a 24-person, second generation, insurance brokerage located in Louisville, Kentucky. We have 20 people that are on our health plan: nine have reached silver, one has reached gold, one has reached platinum. And then we have three other people that are right on the cusp of getting silver, just waiting for the points and we have two others that are in hot pursuit.
Sponseller
In the Vitality program we have full participation, and almost all of our employees are at silver status.
Jessica Torales Polakowski, Regional Sales Manager, Abatek
We know that health insurance is going up but with this program we can all save a little bit so that's a big motivator for all of us to go through this program.
Sponseller
These discounts have a very substantial impact on companies like Abatek because we are a small company. We are talking about tens of thousands, possibly, being saved on a yearly basis.
Schwartz
Every time we save a dollar in premium it gets passed on in the percentage that they're paying so everybody's going to end up winning. The company is going to win and each one of our associates is going to win.
Maureen Lippy, Client Services Director, Schwartz & Associates
The program does offer many ways to earn those points without someone feeling like, "Boy, if I'm not out doing a long run or the mini marathon, you can do it through doing your health assessment which is quick and easy." It was amazing how easy that was.
Shelley Kuussalo, Employment Benefits Department, Schwartz & Associates
I receive points for setting goals. When you set your goals it gives you all sorts of areas that you can go into to earn more points.
Schwartz
I mean obviously you think about certainly you're going to go out and walk or you're going to run or you're going to do some activities. But I just got credit, I play in a tennis league. And so I just filled out the forms for that and got 350 points for that. And didn't realize it, but, that's an easy thing. My kids play in sports leagues - that's an easy way to get more points.
Torales Polakowski
I do like the point systems as a motivator because you are gaining twice: health and stuff.
Kuussalo
The Humana Vitality points are great but they don't mean anything until you know what they are going to be used for and what they are worth. So I've also shown people and gone myself out onto the mall and shown what you can purchase and reward yourself with with your points.
Schwartz
The overall reception of the Vitality program at Schwartz has been great. I think that Humana really has been the first one to put something out there that we can actually implement and flip a switch – it's really pretty turnkey. Because we had programs for about two years that we just self-spun, but it was hard to keep it organized. And so the beauty of this is that it's already organized – we have to get people to participate. And, it doesn't really matter what kind of a business it is, whether it's a service business, it's a manufacturer or whoever, this is something everybody can utilize.
Kuussalo
Well, my main interest was weight management, mainly because that touches everything else, at my age you know, you're talking about cholesterol and blood pressure, and all those things that all play in.
Sponseller
We have a small group of employees who started Weight Watchers and on Thursdays at lunchtime they have an extended lunchtime where they go and weigh in and stay for their meeting. The group of four has over 110 pounds.
Kuussalo
Some people in other offices that I know go out for a smoking break. We're supposed to take a break. We don't usually do it, but, let's go out and walk the parking lot.
Sponseller
Money is a huge motivator for me both from a business standpoint from my P&L and also from weekly tax deductions and payroll deductions.
Lippy
I think for Humana to offer this Vitality program is extremely positive. It keeps the employers very supportive of the employees to be able to keep a healthier lifestyle and have more attention to it and have some accountability for how they participate.
Schwartz
Everybody goes to the doctor and the doctor says, "Oh you should lose weight. You should stop smoking. You should do all these other things." And really people are too busy to think about it once they leave. And so Vitality for us has been a way to not only point those things out, but then for people to be reminded this is important. They're watching their friends, their coworkers do it and they're probably more likely to continue.
