Proposed wellness program stirs unease

SANDPOINT — Bonner County Commissioner Mike Nielsen is trying to gain support for a proposal to increase health insurance premiums for county employees with unhealthy lifestyles.

The move would promote healthier living and place a tourniquet on tax dollars hemorrhaging from the county’s budget to cover rising medical costs, said Nielsen.

The county manipulates coverage options, tweaks premiums and adjusts benefits to cope with increased health care costs, but Nielsen maintains that such an approach fails to address the cost of the plan.

“That’s not the right answer. The right answer is to get a healthier workforce,” he said.

Nielsen said the county’s insurance costs have increased $874,000 from 2007-2010, an increase of 39 percent.

Under the proposed employee wellness program, workers would voluntarily agree to health screenings covering tobacco use, blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, alcohol use and blood sugar. Those who opt in would qualify for premiums lower than premiums offered to non-participants.

Nielsen acknowledges he has an uphill battle ahead.

“I’ve gotten a lot of love letters,” he said facetiously. “My emails are smoking.”

Nielsen said he does not have the support of his colleagues on the board, but hopes to change that.

Neither Commission Chairman Lewie Rich nor Commissioner Cornel Rasor were immediately available for comment on Friday, although messages and emails seeking comment were left with them.

The proposed wellness program also appears to lack the support of other elected officials in the county, all of whom would be exempt from such a program.

Clerk Marie Scott opposes the move because it does not take into account some employees’ genetic predisposition to maladies or those who engage in risky behaviors not covered by the screenings.

“I do not support it,” said Scott, who does not hide that she smokes cigarettes. “Mr. Nielsen need to come to the realization that our employees are assets, not liabilities.”

Appointed officials have also spoken against the proposal, but decline to do so publicly in the interest of job security.

Opponents knock the plan as a government intrusion into people’s private lives, discriminatory and corrosive to morale.

But Nielsen emphasizes that the plan is voluntary and points to the success of Fortune 500 grocery chain Safeway. It implemented a similar wellness program and reduced its health care costs by 40 percent even though national health care costs rose by a comparable amount.

The Safeway model suggested that 70 percent of all health care costs were a direct result of employees’ behavior and found that 74 percent off all health care costs are confined to four chronic conditions — cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer.

Nielsen adds that the money saved by an incentivised wellness program could stave off employee layoffs, which continue to loom

“I’m hoping that we don’t have to lay off anybody,” said Nielsen.

The Association of Bonner County Employees, which administers its own wellness program, heard Nielsen’s pitch earlier month. Association President Chris Quayle said the group is awaiting further information and has not taken a formal position on the matter yet.