Industry Trend: Small Business -- Wellness vs Insurance
Double-digit increases in the cost of conventional health insurance have placed it beyond the reach of many small businesses.  In fact, the National Federation of Independent Businesses reports that 52% of small businesses do not offer health insurance to employees.  Yet employers have a vested interest in attracting good employees through competitive compensation and benefit plans and keeping them them healthy, on and off the job.

Our view:  Small businesses will increasingly offer their employees wellness-related services and programs instead of conventional health insurance.  They'll see the benefits of lower absenteeism, lower presenteeism, and improved general health while benefiting from the predictable and much less expensive cost structure of wellness programming.  This offers an opportunity for locally-oriented wellness businesses to tailor services which can meet the needs of local businesses.

 

It's a common misperce

ption that only low-income families are uninsured.  In fact, a recent article in the Dallas Morning News reported that 2.4 million uninsured adults in Texas have household incomes over $75000.  However, many are employed by companies unable to offer traditional health insurance.

 

While most workplace wellness providers are currently focused on larger companies, the small- and mid-market sector offers a huge and virtually untapped growth opportunity as well.  For health clubs, the opportunity to go beyond corporate discounts and provide wellness services to local businesses and non-HQ locations of larger companies offers a chance to establish new relationships and protect existing corporate accounts.

 

(c) 2004