Method of promoting employee wellness and health insurance strategy for same
First Claim
1. An improved method of allocating employer costs for employee health benefits, comprising the steps of:
- providing a state-governed fully-insured health insurance policy to a group of employees as a non-taxed compensation to an employee, but as a tax deductible expense to the employer;
conditioning a benefit under the policy for the employee to participation in a voluntary wellness program.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an effort to reduce employer health insurance related costs, a state-governed fully-insured health insurance policy is provided for a group of employees. At least one benefit under the health insurance policy is conditional on the employee voluntarily participating in a wellness program. The wellness program could include wellness categories such as a tobacco free category, normal blood pressure category, regular exercise category and even a non-overweight category. In addition, the wellness program could condition coverage, or subsidize deductibles for, certain illnesses on employee submission to screening tests on a prescribed basis for the identified illness, such as cancer screening for early detection of cancer. The voluntary wellness program can also include a variety of other aspects including wellness education, disease inoculation, and injury prevention. The invention provides an incentive for employees to make healthier lifestyle choices.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An improved method of allocating employer costs for employee health benefits, comprising the steps of:
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providing a state-governed fully-insured health insurance policy to a group of employees as a non-taxed compensation to an employee, but as a tax deductible expense to the employer;
conditioning a benefit under the policy for the employee to participation in a voluntary wellness program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An employer provided health insurance product comprising:
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a state-governed fully-insured health insurance policy for a group of employees that is a tax deductible expense to the employer while being non-taxed compensation to an employee;
at least one conditional benefit under the policy for the employee being conditioned on voluntary participation in at least a portion of a wellness program. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of administering a health plan for a group of employees, comprising the steps of:
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determining whether a conditional benefit under a state-governed fully-insured health insurance policy is available to an employee making a claim at least in part by determining whether the employee is a participant in a voluntary wellness program; and
processing the claim with respect to the state-governed fully-insured health insurance policy if the conditional benefit is available to the employee. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification