Fitter Feds

As the debate over health care continues, one top technology company announced last week that it will begin providing employees with 100 percent primary health care coverage and a special wellness rebate. Beginning in 2010, IBM will become one of the first U.S. companies to cover primary care at 100 percent. The company also announced a new wellness incentive that provides a $150 healthy living rebate to all full-time employees who make lifestyle changes to improve their health and build energy.

There's little doubt that these new benefits are competitive, both in the private and federal sectors. What I find most interesting is that IBM has seen health care and wellness programs as a valuable investment. Between 2004 and 2007, for example, the company invested $79 million in wellness programs and saved about $191 million in health-related costs.

President Obama met with industry leaders in May to discuss strategies for improving employee health, and he directed the Office of Personnel Management to develop wellness best practices and a plan for the federal workforce. OPM has since implemented its work-life campus initiative, a joint effort with the Federal Reserve, General Services Administration and the Interior Department, to pilot wellness programs. Has your agency implemented an innovative wellness program? What can the government do to improve employee health and better compete with companies like IBM with top-notch health and wellness programs?

Meanwhile, check out Government Executive's special package on the federal government's efforts to improve the health and morale of federal employees.