NAHU To Promote Wellness Partnerships

By Trevor Thomas

June 29, 2006 at 01:04 PM

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The National Association of Health Underwriters wants to tackle rising group health costs by helping workers exercise, eat right and get appropriate preventive care.

"You'll see us making a big wellness push in the next few months," Janet Trautwein, chief executive of NAHU, Arlington, Va., said here during an interview at NAHU's annual convention.

NAHU is setting up a program that will help members include wellness benefits in benefits packages, Trautwein said.

"I have around 60 bids in my office right now" from various vendors, Trautwein said. "We will offer the best ones to members at some point in the near future."

NAHU also is interested in finding ways to help brokers serve workers who are not well, Trautwein said.

"The issue is, what do we do with the chronic and seriously ill to make sure they are taken care of without raising costs for others," Trautwein said.

In the past year, other NAHU projects have included revamping the association's computer system and introducing a continuing education program that focuses on ethics.

On the legislative front, NAHU has been trying to persuade Congress to make the health savings account program more attractive and let employers add long term care insurance to Section 125 cafeteria benefit plans.

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