User:Jeslyndv/Workplace wellness

Affordable Care Act and Effects on Workplace Wellness:
There are conversations surrounding the role of the Affordable Care Act and in general insurance on its effects on workplace wellness. Sixty percent of American obtain their insurance coverage solely in the their respective workspaces. However, larger companies are more inclined to offer employee health insurance and wellness programs than those in small businesses. It is critical for workplace wellness to have increase participation, provisions under insurance coverage for small employers to increase incentives expands participation for small businesses. The Affordable Care Act (ACA )includes the Prevention and Public Health Fund whereby provisions are created to address and expand community prevention, public health infrastructure and training, clinical prevention, and workforce wellness research in the large American working demographic.

The role of the Affordable Care Act increases programs for worksite wellness is a strategy to tackle the growing rate of chronic diseases in the United States. In a study by the CDC, the implementation of worksite wellness incurs a three time investment over a dollar spent and have been reported positively by companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Citibank, Duke University, Chevron etc.

Included in the Affordable Care Act are chronic diseases management to be offered in the essential health benefits. As workers age, health care costs and chronic diseases such as depression, anxiety and diabetes are proportional to its growing increase. Due to this increase, the negative effect on workplace productivity and presentism is declining. ACA implements these management benefits to reduce the declining and negative effects.

In the CDC study on workplace wellness and ACA, the solution resolves to health culture and its strength in workplaces given that only 26% reported that their employees have strong culture of health in their organizations. In 2014, it was found that the Affordable Care Act expands incentive limit by 10 percent. Implementing incentives such as discounts that puts value in health choices and behavior illustrated a 73% positive feedback. In addition, increasing tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, would decrease obesity levels in US adults by 3.5%. The study then concluded towards preventative practices and reform promotes health and quality on workers and increasing productivity. Included with ACA's incentive plan is a non-discriminatory law or HIPAA to requiring availability to alternative wellness programs if need be.

The Affordable Care Act has importance in contextualizing health care promotions in the workplace. The Affordable Care Act, in its revisions and improvements not only persuades workspaces both low and high wage industries to implement health care promotion. Small employers often are underrepresented in the surveys and data for ACA, low wage industries in the past have been underrepresented under the Affordable Care Act, however, with improvements in representation to cover both low and high earning workers, more participation can be seen in workplace wellness.