'Employers medical claim cost outpaces salary spends in 5 yrs'

The study further revealed that the most prevalent health risks among employees are related to stress accounts for 65 per cent, tobacco/smoking 61 per cent, weight 60 per cent and diet around 58 per cent.

Many of these risks can be managed effectively through preventive action and lifestyle changes.

Employers are now responding to these concerns with increased emphasis on wellness initiatives to help their employees improve overall health, as well as addressing losses in productivity and increased medical costs.

"Rising health care costs and growing lifestyle risks are driving employers to revisit their employee health and well-being strategy. Organisations will increasingly need to manage underlying health risks to achieve their cost containment objectives," Kedia said.

Marsh India said it had interviewed 301 organisations with a total group size in excess of 1.5 million people for the survey. Apart from employers, the survey included seven leading general insurance companies, six TPAs and ten health and wellness solution providers.

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