Business of Well-being

Beyond Insurance: Significant Wellness Discounts for Your Employees

To improve employee health and overall well-being, you are most likely reviewing the costs, features and benefits of new wellness programs. As you review the latest HR trends, consider your employee's needs and potential ROI for your corporation.

Wellness discount programs are typically designed to maintain or improve employee health before problems arise.

Recent studies in Canada and the United States report that 80% of illnesses and diseases are preventable. This accounts for eight of the nine leading causes of death, of which there are more than 980,000 each year. Unfortunately, heart disease is the biggest killer and makes up more than 50% of this number. Nevertheless, heart disease is still one of the most preventable diseases in this country.


For this reason, employee wellness programs are one of the best ways to prevent sickness and reduce employer, employee and overall health care costs. Organizations that implement such programs can decrease costs by increasing productivity and by reducing absences from work; the result is a discernibly boosted bottom line. If you are not familiar with wellness discount programs, take a moment to discover how they work and learn about an affordable option.

How It Works

With a wellness program, participating employees can save on weight loss programs, smoking cessation, diabetic supplies, vitamins/nutritional supplements, chiropractic and alternative health care, dental and vision care, and more. Employees can simply activate their membership, locate a participating provider and receive discounts at the time of service.


In addition to saving employees money, a $1 investment in wellness programs typically saves employers $3 in health care costs, according to the Wellness Council of America. Wellness programs can be offered as a voluntary benefit or funded by the employer.

What is a Discount Program?

Discount wellness plans are not insurance plans. Discount plans are intended to complement insurance, or to be offered as a low cost alternative. With a discount plan, employees simply pay a small monthly fee for access to participating providers who have agreed to give health care products and services at discounted rates.

Why Choose a Wellness Discount Program?

Budget-friendly discount plans can help your employees save on wellness products. Discount plans are affordable and immediate with no waiting periods, limitations, deductibles or claim forms. Everyone is accepted, regardless of existing health conditions. Since most discount plans include an entire household, your employees and their families can instantly avoid rising health care costs. To learn about Careington's My WellCare Discount Plan, please call (800) 400-8789 or visit www.careington.com.

About the Author:

Chuck Misasi is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Careington International Corporation. He has more than 20 years of experience creating and marketing wellness and health care discount plans. He is an innovator in health-related product development, marketing research and sales.


He is an experienced senior executive with expertise in direct marketing, business development and customer relationship management. Chuck currently oversees Careington's client relations, product development and marketing departments and works with a far-reaching list of clients on a daily basis.

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