Editor’s Note

Healthcare costs are continuing to rise, outpacing inflation. According to the Amarican Diabetes Association, about 30.3 million people in the U.S. are living with diabetes. In 2017, the total estimated costs associated with diagnosed diabetes were a staggering $327 billion, an increase of 26 percent compared to 2012.

 

About one-third of this cost -- $109 billion -- is due to medical costs to care for patients with diabetes. Another $30 billion is due to indirect costs in the employed population, including increased absenteeism and reduced productivity.
 
What can companies do today to control their immediate healthcare costs? This month’s cover article, How Employers Can Tackle Prediabetes To Reduce Healthcare Costs by Jay G. Wohlgemuth, outlines how employers can play a pivotal role in helping individuals identify prediabetes and take actions to reduce progression to type-2 diabetes.
 
Most employees spend a good amount of time at work — about a third of their day, according to the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While every employer wants productive employees, there’s no reason health and wellness initiatives need to be placed on the back burner at the cost of getting work done. Effective health and wellness initiatives can improve employees’ quality of life along with reducing health risks such as depression or diabetes. Seraine Page, in her article, 5 Easy Wellness Initiatives, suggests ways to set up successful wellness initiatives in-office on any budget.
 
Did you know, college tuition and fees have increased by 63 percent between January 2006 and 2016. In this same period, incomes have decreased by 7 percent, making college unaffordable for 70 percent of Americans without the help of student loans. For more than half of Americans with debt, the stress negatively affects their productivity at work. Offering student loan repayment benefits can help relieve some of this stress for employees. Read Gregory Poulin’s article, Why Your Company Should Offer Student Loan Repayment Benefits, for key insights on the hottest employee benefit of 2019.
 
Can An Ineligible Employee Get FMLA Leave? asks Janette Levey Frisch. There really are times and ways that an otherwise ineligible employee can end up getting FMLA leave. So, what are the criteria to consider a leave as an FMLA leave? Read the article to know more.
 
This is not all! We have a variety of other informative articles on employee benefits and wellness in this issue. We hope you enjoy reading all the articles and get back to us with your valuable feedback.