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Resolve to be healthy: Getaway to Illinois
From high-end spas to spiritual retreats, Illinois offers myriad ways for travelers to focus on their health year round. The appeal of wellness vacations is on the rise. According to AAA, travel that focuses on achieving, maintaining and enhancing one's overall health and wellness is a growing trend in leisure travel. For residents and visitors, Illinois offers a range of options including world-class spas, miles of natural beauty and specialty wellness retreats. During any season, travelers will find endless ways to relax, reenergize and rejuvenate in Illinois.
Get your free 2008 Illinois Travel Guide today. Featuring road-trips, accommodations and can't miss attractions, it's the expert's guide to planning an Illinois Getaway. Get your free guide at enjoyillinois.com.
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
The goal of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month is to increase awareness that colorectal cancer is largely preventable, treatable and beatable.
National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month began in 2000 when the Prevent Cancer Foundation, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition and the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable joined forces to bring about colorectal cancer awareness. Over 57 other collaborating organizations joined forces to raise awareness year-round, particularly during March.
Why you can't kill a bad habit with a magic bullet
New study shows using four influence strategies to change bad habits is four times more successful
A study by the authors of a new bestseller on influencing change found that 98 percent of Americans fail when making resolutions to change their bad behaviors. Most importantly, the study reveals why the other two percent succeed.
According to the study from the authors of the New York Times bestseller, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything (McGraw-Hill, 2007), those who use four or more influence strategies to change bad habits are four times more likely to succeed.
The survey of more than 1,000 Americans also revealed that the reason most people give up on changing their bad behaviors is because their approach usually consists of only one, "magic bullet" solution — a trend proven by the $23 billion Americans spend annually on diet pills (The Diet Drug Report, 2007).
Joseph Grenny, co-author of Influencer, says despite decades of failure, the good news is that most people are just an idea or two away from overcoming their most resistant habits. "Forget diet pills and quick-fix solutions," says Grenny. "The key to real change is to guarantee success by leveraging as many strategies of influence as you can."
Grenny's new book teaches that there are six possible influence strategies or sources that determine how we behave. And if people learn to leverage these sources, change becomes inevitable.
The six sources of influence:
- Personal motivation – overcome your own reluctance and resistance;
- Personal ability – learn how to master the necessary skills for success;
- Social motivation – enlist help from leaders or other opinion-leaders;
- Social ability – leverage teamwork;
- Structural motivation – reward your early successes; and
- Structural ability – surround yourself with a supportive physical environment.
For example, one respondent demonstrated how after decades of struggling to lose weight she increased her physical activity and changed her life when she marshaled multiple sources of influence.
"I was inactive for many years. After a serious health condition almost took my life, I knew I had to change my ways. I changed everything about my life to make exercise a very high priority. I started working part time instead of full time. I made time to exercise before work. I changed my diet by bringing my lunch to work. I ‘put my house on a diet' and made an agreement with my family to keep bad food out. I engaged my husband in the effort by him agreeing to watch the kids while I worked out. Since I changed the influences in my life, I have not only lost the weight but also kept it off."
Influencer, draws on the skills of hundreds of successful individuals who have solved seemingly insurmountable challenges using multiple sources of influence.
Visit http://www.vitalsmarts.com for more information or to purchase Influencer.
**LIVE Webcast: Today's Topics In Health Disparities — Immigration and Health Care: What are the Policy Choices? — Begins at 2:00pm CST on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.
The Kaiser Family Foundation hosts a LIVE webcast discussion on the influence that immigration policies have on federal and state decisions about access to health care and coverage. The panel will focus on questions such as: How is the immigrant population defined in the U.S.? What are the health coverage and access to care challenges facing legal and undocumented immigrants? How have states, local governments and health providers differed in their approaches to addressing the health care needs of recent immigrants? What impact will these decisions have on racial/ethnic health disparities? Sign up at
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/
to participate.
**Submit questions before or during the show to TodaysTopics@kaisernetwork.org
IMA's Business Day 2008 . . . May 7 in Springfield
Mark your calendar today and plan to attend.
Blagojevich proposes health care tax . . . again
Like swallows to the mission at Capistrano, Governor Rod Blagojevich once again is proposing to require a three percent payroll tax be collected from any Illinois employer with ten or more employees that does not spend at least four percent on health insurance for workers. The Governor made the proposal on February 20th during his annual Budget Address to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly.
According to the Governor, the payroll tax would raise some $400 million during 2008. However when annualized, the Governor is actually seeking more than $1 billion in new revenues to pay for state-funded health care coverage for families making up to $82,000 per year.
Just last year, the Governor asked the legislature for a massive, $7 billion gross receipts tax to fund his proposals. However the Illinois House rejected the GRT, the largest proposed tax hike in Illinois history, by a unanimous 107-0 vote. The Illinois Senate never voted on the tax hike.
The failure by the legislature to create a new health care program did little to deter the Governor from moving forward. Last fall, the Governor ordered his Department of Health Care and Family Services to implement emergency rules to expand the state's Medicaid program despite another unanimous rejection of that plan by a joint legislative panel. As a result of that defiant action, a lawsuit, which includes IMA President & CEO Greg Baise as a taxpayer plaintiff, was filed to stop the Governor from moving forward and spending taxpayers' money that had not been lawfully appropriated by the legislature.
The IMA, and most business organizations in Illinois, believe that health care, health insurance and wellness are important. But the plans put forward by the Governor are just too big and too expensive at a time when the state is facing a slowing economy and a deficit of nearly $3.6 billion.
The IMA is engaged in actively working to defeat the payroll tax proposal and thus far the General Assembly has not scheduled hearings on the matter.
Committed to wellness...
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois encourages healthy habits at work
Too often during the workday, "lunch" means grabbing some fast food in between meetings, and "exercise" means a quick jog to the copy machine. But taking a little time on-the-job to think about health and wellness and to make good choices can make a big difference in the long run. That's why it's important for employers to offer tools and resources to employees to help them be healthy.
At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, we are helping our employees achieve their health goals by promoting healthy nutrition, activity, and lifestyle habits. Our worksite programs address various needs across the health spectrum because we think it's important to promote wellness in everything we do.
To that end, we recently announced a new mission reflecting cultural changes spanning all aspects of our business and corporate citizenship. We aim "to promote the health and wellness of our members and our communities through accessible, cost-effective, quality health care." And we know that the first step to achieving this is a firm commitment to our own employees' health and wellness.
Our commitment shows.
The Wellness Councils of America (WELCOA) recently awarded Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) a 2007 Gold-level "Well Workplace Award." The award recognizes HCSC for the implementation of successful wellness programs at its Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
In making awards, WELCOA conducts rigorous evaluations of the quality of corporate health promotion programs. Gold level winners must illustrate how their wellness initiatives have changed employees' behaviors. Employers also must show a solid foundation for the discussion and practice of wellness in the workplace at all levels of the organization.
HCSC's wellness tools range from health assessment and health planning tools; health educational resources; lifestyle management programs; worksite wellness initiatives; and motivational and incentive programs.
Thousands of HCSC employees and their dependents participate in the company's wellness programs. For example, nearly 10,000 employees and dependents completed health risk assessments (HRA) in 2007. More than 4,000 participated in company health fairs and more than 8,000 employees took part in body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes screenings throughout the year. More than 8,600 employees, or 50 percent of HCSC's employee population, have elected to receive regularly scheduled health tips via e-mail. In addition, more than half the company has registered to participate in a new nine-month walking campaign. HCSC's corporate wellness department has attracted more than 12,000 participants to its online programs, which cover a variety of topics including weight and stress management, exercise and ergonomics. The new vending machine program, called "Face Up to Your Health," helps employees make more informed selections at the vending machine.
Successful wellness programs require more than talk. They require clear strategies, a plan of action, comprehensive tools, and methods of evaluation. We are proud of our internal efforts thus far, and plan to continue to build on and improve what we've done. We also encourage our members and employer groups to look for opportunities to promote worksite wellness.
Marian Lambert is the director of corporate benefits for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, a division of Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), is the largest and most experienced health insurance company in Illinois. It began in 1936 as Hospital Service Corporation with the Blue Cross symbol officially adopted in 1939. HCSC is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Poll finds Americans split by political party over whether socialized medicine better or worse than current system
Seventy percent of Republicans think socialized medicine would make things worse and 70 percent of Democrats think it would make things better
During the course of the presidential nomination campaign, some candidates' health care plans have been described as 'socialized medicine.' Historically, the phrase socialized medicine has been used to attack health reform proposals in the U.S. However, a new poll by the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Harris Interactive finds that Americans are split on whether a socialized medical system would be better or worse than the current system. Among those who say they have at least some understanding of the phrase (82 percent), a plurality (45 percent) says such a system would be better while 39 percent say it would be worse. Twelve percent say they do not know and four percent say about the same.
The poll shows striking differences by party identification. Seventy percent of Republicans say that socialized medicine would be worse than our current system. The same percentage of Democrats (70 percent) say that a socialized medical system would be better than our current system. Independents are more evenly split with 43 percent saying socialized medicine would be better and 38 percent worse.
"These results suggest how polarizing the issue of health care will be in the general election," says Robert J. Blendon, Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. "The phrase ‘socialized medicine' really resonates as a pejorative with Republicans. However, that so many Democrats believe that socialized medicine would be an improvement is an indication of their dissatisfaction with our current system. Independents, who are the key swing group in this election, are split like the country as a whole."
Although a majority of Americans say they understand the phrase socialized medicine (34 percent very well, 33 percent somewhat well), about one in three are uncertain what it means (15 percent not very well, 15 percent not at all). When offered descriptions of what such a system could mean, only one-third (32 percent) feel that socialized medicine is a system where "the government tells doctors what to do". Strong majorities believe that it means that "the government makes sure everyone has health insurance" (79 percent) and "the government pays most of the cost of health care" (73 percent).
A majority of those surveyed feel that the American health care system already has elements that could be described as socialized medicine. Sixty percent believe that Medicare is socialized medicine, whereas about half (47 percent) feel that the veterans health care system is socialized medicine.
A majority of Americans feel that the front-runners for the Democratic nomination would propose changes that would create a socialized medical system. However, there is a difference between the two remaining Democratic candidates. Sixty-nine percent think that Hillary Clinton would propose a socialized medical system compared to 57 percent for Barack Obama. Far fewer Americans feel the Republicans would propose a socialized medical system — Mike Huckabee (19 percent) and John McCain (15 percent).
Compared to seniors (ages 65+), younger adults (ages 18-34) are more likely to view socialized medicine positively (55 percent vs. 30 percent). Younger adults are also more likely than seniors to view Medicare as socialized medicine (67 percent vs. 47 percent). The uninsured do not view socialized medicine as negatively as those who have health insurance. Only 19 percent of the uninsured think that a socialized medicine system would be worse than our current system while 57 percent think it would be better. Those who currently have health insurance are divided on whether socialized medicine would be better (44 percent) or worse (41 percent).
"No doubt some Republicans will continue to use the words ‘socialized medicine' to attack Democratic health care proposals before and after this November's elections, but these attacks are unlikely to do much damage," says Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of The Harris Poll®. "Only just over one third of adults think that socialized medicine would be worse than what we have now, and majorities associate the words with popular policies such as Medicare and a government guarantee that everyone has health insurance. Clearly socialized medicine is not the scary bogeyman it used to be."
Harris Interactive is one of the largest and fastest-growing market research firms in the world. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at http://www.harrisinteractive.com.
Wellness makes everyone a winner
Wellness. We've been hearing about it for years. Employers have had to decide whether to embrace it or ignore it (after, of course, taking the giant first step of understanding it). And now it's catching on in a big way as businesses in Illinois and across the nation are looking to wellness and health management programs as a means of holding the line on rising medical costs.
Recent studies have shown that more than three out of four employers have launched some sort of initiative aimed at lowering costs by encouraging their employees to adopt healthier lifestyles. Some offer health club memberships. Others penalize smoking. Most report "good" results, but in a marketplace cluttered with wellness program "products," many executives wonder if the results are as good as they might be.
At Praire States, the IMA's exclusively endorsed third party administrator, we believe a good place to start in answering that question is to determine whether the wellness program under review meets the following criteria:
- Treats employees and their family members as individuals;
- Provides continuous individualized and professional support;
- Prompts a measurable improvement in the health status and health-spending habits of employees; and
- Delivers a measureable, positive return on investment.
The idea is to promote "buy-in" by spreading the message that wellness is important for everyone involved, and that the approach need not be adversarial. Therefore, punitive, compulsory, and discriminatory programs are out; sharing a goal of improved overall group health and saving money on healthcare is in. Programs that let employees set achievable goals with a health coach translate into much higher success rates than those that hammer away at a message of "do this or else."
Employers will find a more receptive audience to wellness efforts because of the increased focus today, not only in group health, but all around them. Messages in media are increasingly pervasive, with news reports and TV commercials talking about the importance of encouraging better health habits such as exercise, avoiding transfat, and quitting cigarette smoking. With the right kind of push from business-owners, the benefits are enormous, not only in terms of better group health, but in improved morale.
Cost-savings, though, are the real story. Simply providing reasonable health benefits in the first place is a possibility only when something is being done to prevent claims from going up. IMA members have become believers, having seen what Prairie States has achieved with its customers, with wellness ROIs of up to 13 to one! A healthier workforce and that kind of savings are incentive enough.
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