Worker fitness tied to lower insurance rates, fewer claims - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Some companies are ringing in the new year resolvingh to have leaner employee because health care costws are skyrocketing and they see a healthierd lifestyle as the key not only to healthier and moreproductivwe employees, but to lower health care costs and less Some are not only encouraging their employees to join gyms and healtyh facilities, but are paying for membershi p costs as well. New Mexico's enrolled in a corporate membershilp programat .
Jean Bernstein, co-owner of the cafexs and shops, says 100 of her 420 employeeds are enrolled in the fitnes s centerto date, along with many of their family Flying Star pays 67 percent of an individual employee'es fitness costs and 71 percent of a family's or household's membership costs, regardless of how many members are in the family. Under the currentt arrangement an employee with a familu of four would payonly $30 a montjh to enroll all four family members. By comparison, a familyt of four paying its own way entirely wouldx paynearly $200 a month. Bernstein says employeezs didn't always have it so good.
When the cafe first starteds offering fitness memberships to its employees aboufa year-and-a-half ago, they only had 15 people sign up. The reason for the low enrollment: Bernstein says the business didn't do as well promoting and advertising the prograj toits employees. "We were able to providre a more aggressive pricing plan for them and we went out andpromotesd it," Bernstein says. "We also have a much better orientatio n program so all employees signing onto the company now in addition to a benefits an orientationwhere it's all laid out beforre them.
" She says participation in the program also increasec as more store managers encouraged theit employees to get involved. Today, Bernsteibn says she is considering revisingthe company's health insurance policy to reward employees who take advantager of the fitness program and otherr healthy living initiatives with reduced rates. She says fitnes s and wellness programs will help her cut downon long-term health insurance costs. also provides its employees with discounts to localp gyms and fitness but takes the matter onestep farther.
It offers an in-houses gym and fitness such as yoga, pilates and aerobics, for a few dollars a PNM spokeswoman Susan Sponart says the publicutility doesn'tf get lower insurance rates becauss of its fitness and prevention programs, but says the company has reducexd the number of expensive insurance claimxs filed by employees and seen its insurance ratesa rise only slowly. "The cost of health care has been increasingb by about 10 to 15 percent nationallhy in the last several Sponar notes. "The rates for PNM employeesa have been flat and stayex at 3 or4 percent. We're encouraginh people to take care of themselvess andthey are.
" , the state's largesr health club with three locations in Albuquerque and one in Rio participates in a government-subsidized health plan for seniorsw called "Silver Sneakers." Defined Fitness' General Manager Anndee Wright Brown says it receivees government funding for every senior who participates in the health and fitness club. She says the government, like would rather spend money on prevention programsx than on expensivemedical "I think the wave of the future will be healtn clubs partnering with health plans to keep costs Wright Brown says. "Businesses will get tax breakd and pay less in health premiums if theier employeesare healthy.
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