Pepsi’s wellness program fizzes under ROI scrutiny; insurers extend payment deadlines for HIX plans; tips to reduce ‘pension envy’: 3 things you need to know this week in employee benefits

Study finds PepsiCo wellness program fizzes out on ROI

A recently released study examining PepsiCo’s 10-year-old employee wellness program—which included two of the company’s own executives among the lead researchers—has revealed that the program yields “no significant effect on health care costs,” according to a Reuters report published in the Chicago Tribune.

The research, published this week in the journal Health Affairs, is based on seven years worth of data from participants in PepsiCo’s wellness program, launched in 2003. The paper quotes study co-author Soeren Mattke of the RAND Corporation, who says the findings show that “blanket claims of 'wellness saves money' are not warranted.”

To be clear, the study concluded that only “lifestyle interventions”—including health risk assessments, smoking-cessation programs, educational materials and telephonic wellness coaching—produced no statistically significant effect on costs.

Disease management programs, however, fared well in the study regarding return on investment. That component of the PepsiCo program assists employees in managing chronic conditions—including asthma, diabetes and hypertension—through regular telephonic coaching sessions with a nurse. Mattke and his colleagues found that disease management saved $136 per member per month, driven by a 29% reduction in hospital admissions.

According to a separate RAND report, half of U.S. employers with at least 50 workers offered a wellness program in 2012, as well as 90% of those with 50,000+ workers. However, ROI for the programs is frequently argued among experts and the programs recently have come under fire amid claims of invading employee privacy and being potentially discriminatory.

Insurers give HIX purchasers the gift of time

Several health plans have extended premium payment deadlines for members who purchased plans via healthcare.gov, Reuters reports, giving consumers until the end of the month to pay for benefits that began Jan. 1.

Among them are Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas and BCBS of Illinois, which pushed payment deadline out to Jan. 30, and Independence BCBS (based in Pennsylvania), whose new payment deadline is Jan. 28. Other insurers—including WellPoint Inc. and state exchange Covered Califonia—offered more modest payment extensions, to Jan. 15. Originally, 2014 plans sold via healthcare.gov had a payment deadline of Dec. 24, 2013.

As of late December, more than 2 million people had purchased plans through healthcare.gov, according to government numbers.

This week’s hidden gem: The cash is always greener—tips to ease pension envy

New focus group analysis by Hearts & Wallets reported in Wall Street Journal MarketWatch confirms what many may have long suspected: When it comes to corporate pensions, the have-nots highly envy the haves.

“In focus groups, we saw a lot more burdens and stress among non-pensioners,” says Laura Varas, a principal at Hearts & Wallets. She adds that emotions between pensioners and non-pensioners ran so high that the firm decided to separate them. “We didn’t have any physical violence,” she says, “but it was tense.”

To ease tensions and give non-pensioners greater peace of mind, Varas recommends non-pensioners follow three tips:

1. Leverage investable assets. Non-pensioners with household incomes of $100,000 or more have an average of $438,000 in investable assets, H&W finds, compared to $313,000 for those with government pensions. She suggests perhaps placing those assets to work in annuities and bonds.

2. Downsize at home. The average non-pensioner has considerably more home equity–$168,000—than the average pensioner. Varas suggests non-pensioners tap into that equity.

3. Save during the good times. Non-pensioners with variable incomes should bank extra cash during fatter months, Varas advises.