Employers
As an employer, you have the ability to significantly decrease the number of cancer cases and deaths by ensuring proper prevention and screening among your workforce. Data shows that it is far more costly to pay for cancer treatments and support than it is to provide cancer screening and tobacco prevention measures. Direct medical expenses (health insurance premiums) and indirect costs (lost productivity) related to treating employees with cancer may be costing you thousands of dollars every year.
The fact is, people with cancer who die cost more than those who are cured (or in long-term remission) when you consider medical insurance and non-medical insurances such as disability and life insurance. The cost of cancer prevention and early detection is actually relatively low and may be offset through modest changes elsewhere; these costs are lower in fact than some ancillary benefits routinely covered by health plans.
An actuarial study conducted by Milliman, Inc. showed that it would take an investment of only $2.95 per member per month for the typical employer to reach near full compliance among their employees to cover breast, colorectal and cervical caner screening, and that this would yield savings of up to $3.75 per member per month.
Many health economics experts suggest that if an intervention can save one year of life for less than $50,000, it is cost-effective. So in economic terms, screening for colorectal, cervical and breast caner is very cost-effective.
C-Change encourages you to review our latest Making the Business Case for Cancer Prevention & Early Detection White Paper to see for yourself. C-Change Business Case White Paper For simple facts & figures, please see here: C-Change Business Case Fact Sheet
What Can You Do?
C-Change is calling on every U.S. employer to do three things:
- Provide coverage for four, proven cost-effective cancer prevention measures - tobacco cessation programs and breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening – while waiving co-pays and deductibles.
- Encourage all eligible employees to use these services through combined actions of education and individual financial incentives.
- Implement workplace tobacco-free policies—not allowing the use or retail sale of tobacco products at work—protect all employees from secondhand smoke exposure, and may encourage smokers to quit or reduce tobacco use.
For those companies already offering a comprehensive health benefits plan, consider becoming a CEO Cancer Gold Standard-Accredited ® company. Join companies such as Johnson & Johnson, SAS Institute, and GlaxoSmithKline, who have joined the war on cancer by implementing initiatives that reduce the risk of cancer, enable early diagnosis, facilitate better access to best-available treatments, and hasten the discovery of novel diagnostic tools and anti-cancer therapies. For more information, please visit the CEO Roundtable’s Web site at www.CEORoundtableOnCancer.org.
For additional resources to help you make decisions about preventive healthcare as part of your corporate health benefit, please visit the National Business Group on Health (NBGH). NBGH is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping employers with important healthcare decisions. They have developed a comprehensive guide for employers detailing the rationale and cost benefit of covering evidence-based preventive health measures as part of corporate health plans. This resource, the NBGH Purchasers Guide to Health, includes detailed information on the cost of providing tobacco cessation programs and breast, colorectal and cervical cancer screening. Employers can find out more about the Purchasers Guide to Health by visiting www.BusinessGroupHealth.org.
Other ways to get involved include the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer, a project that aims to engage Corporate Executives of Fortune 1000 companies to support the mission of the ACS. By fall of 2006, promising results led to a recommendation that CEOs Against Cancer be developed as a Branded-Nationwide Executive Engagement Strategy. The intention of the program is to build an infrastructure for a nationwide leadership network of CEO’s engaged in multiple integrated strategies to support the 2015 goals of the Enterprise, including—but not limited to-- employer initiative programs and implementation of the CEO Cancer Gold Standard. For more information about CEO’s Against Cancer, please contact Linda Saulnier, Managing Director by email at Linda.Saulnier@cancer.org.
Finally, the Partnership for Prevention (PFP) is an organization comprised of businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies advancing policies and practices to prevent disease and improve the health of all Americans. In 2004, PFP developed the CEO-focused “Leading by Example” initiative designed to capitalize on the dynamics of the workplace and to improve employee health by promoting greater business involvement in health promotion and disease prevention. Information on the organization, its membership, initiatives and publications can be found at www.prevent.org.
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