GiftCard Partners Blog

These days, “wellness” isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a business strategy. For HR leaders, managers, and business owners, it’s clear that supporting your team’s physical and mental health isn’t just good for them, it’s good for your bottom line. But there’s a piece of the puzzle that often gets overlooked: what’s happening at home.

Do you use your health plan as a trusted advisor to guide your healthy lifestyle initiatives? If you do, you’re not alone. Health plan enrollees, especially those enrolled in public health plans like Medicaid, look for guidance and incentive reinforcement on how to live a healthy lifestyle. This interaction is crucial as it not only encourages healthy behavior but also helps reduce overall plan costs.

When you think of employee safety, you may envision hard hats and safety goggles, but modern safety goes well beyond PPE. Today’s most effective safety programs also include wellness components: walk breaks, mental health resources, and a culture of care. The link between wellness and safety isn’t just anecdotal—it’s backed by data.

March is National Nutrition Month^®, a yearly initiative from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that encourages people to make informed food choices and build healthy eating habits. This year, the theme is "Beyond the Table," focusing on the different ways and places people eat, such as at home, school, work, or events. It also addresses the impact of our food choices on the environment, including how we produce, transport, and prepare our foods.

Insurance broker involvement in wellness programs is on the rise. In the past insurance brokers may have helped human resources departments select and negotiate the best insurance plans for their workforce. But with the introduction of the Affordable Care Act and the incentives that are geared toward employee wellness, a broker’s job role is expanding. Now just how far that expansion reaches is still dependent on the broker. The graph below is taken from
RAND’s latest employer survey and breaks down the involvement levels that different insurance brokers have in their clients’ wellness programs.