Combatting Employer Health Care Cost

Employers adding programs to combat rising health care costs

Multinational companies have developed a health and productivity strategy in the United States, but they have not been as proactive in other regions of the world, according to a new survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global human capital consulting firm. However, as health care costs rise around the globe, multinational companies are increasingly adding these programs worldwide.

The survey of 90 multinational companies found that 65% currently have a strategy to improve the health and productivity of their workers in the United States, but significantly fewer have programs in Canada (22%), Asia-Pacific (21%), Europe (16%) and Latin America (15%). Although many of these multinationals plan to develop a health and productivity strategy in these regions over the next two years, they will still lag behind their U.S. operations by a wide margin.