Wellness Programs

Some employers make wellness programs available to employees as part of their company’s overall health care benefits package. The programs may target health issues such as smoking or obesity. The wellness programs are generally intended to encourage healthier lifestyles or prevent disease. Employers like the programs because healthier employees may translate to lower health care costs for the company, and employees like the programs because they may be able to save money on their health care premiums.

Wellness programs sometimes use medical questionnaires or health risk assessments (HRA) and biometric screenings to determine an employee's health risk factors, such as weight,