Green Bay, WI (October 4, 2006) -The Healthy Lifestyles Cooperative of Brown County, a newly formed health insurance organization with more than 230 member companies, announced it has selected Destiny Health, a pioneer of the consumer-directed health care model, as its insurance plan provider.
Destiny Health is the world's premiere integrator of wellness program incentives and health insurance, with the objective of creating healthier insureds who then access the sick care provider systems less resulting in more stable insurance rates.
Destiny Health proved the soundness of its creative insurance model during 14 years of experience and development by its parent company, Discovery Health, in South Africa, which has a health care system similar to that of the U.S. In South Africa, the success of the wellness program integration effort has rapidly increased market acceptance; today, the company is the dominant provider of small organization health insurance with almost 50% of the market.
Destiny Health entered the U.S. market in 2000 and now underwrites groups in seven states. Its parent company has more than $1 billion in assets, and its U.S. reinsurer is Clarendon/Hannover Life Re, the world's fifth largest.
A key factor in The Destiny Health Plan success is its Vitality Program, which rewards both employers and members for improved performance. Employers can receive increasing premium discounts as its employees reach higher levels of total participation and accomplishment in various health initiatives, with emphasis on four major categories-prevention, fitness, lifestyle and education.
Members, as they attain increasingly higher levels, called Vitality Status®, receive Vitality Bucks™ that can be redeemed for frequent flier miles, magazine subscriptions, vacation packages, music downloads and name brand merchandise from an online shopping mall, nSpire, that has recently partnered with Amazon.com. They are also rewarded with cash rebates for fitness club memberships and smoking cessation/weight loss class participation.
"Since we began creating the Co-op approach in April 2005, we knew we needed to use a wellness participation as our main driver for health improvement and cost reduction," states Co-op Board president Phil Hauck. "Otherwise, we're doing nothing to reach our objective of stabilizing the very rapid rate of increase of which small groups and their employees and families have been victims.
"Destiny Health has by far the most developed option we reviewed. The plan integrates wellness in a concrete way that drives actual premium decreases."
Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce President and Co-op Board member, Paul Jadin, notes, "We've heard for more than a decade the plea of our small business members to do something about these health insurance rates, and finally we're very happy to say that we can provide them with what we feel is a great solution. We're very excited about the potential of the Co-op to achieve its mission."
Co-op members will be receiving their new group rates shortly and have until October 31 to formally commit to the insurance plan, which begins January 1, 2007. A key part of the program, in addition to The Destiny Health Vitality Program™, is required participation by member organizations' adult employees and dependents in a Health Risk Assessment, including a health history and blood analysis, review of the assessment with a health counselor, and optional work with a health coach to reduce high risk factors identified by the HRA.
"We are honored to be selected by Brown County Healthy Lifestyles Cooperative as the long term partner. For our organization, we view this as an opportunity to make a significant impact on the health and lifestyles to the participating members within the cooperative" says Art Carlos, President and CEO, Destiny Health.
About Healthy Lifestyles Co-operative of Brown County
Healthy Lifestyles Co-operative of Brown County (Co-op) was created in April 2005 to stabilize health insurance rates through co-operative purchasing, personal accountability, and healthier lifestyles. The two organizations that have provided the foundation of the Co-op are the Non-Profit Resource Group of Brown County, a coalition of non-profit organizations, and the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.
Founding Board members of the Co-op are Gary Clevers, Financial Life Cycles; Tim Day, The Weyers Group; Phil Hauck, TEC/The Executive Committee; Paul Jadin, Phil Mattek and Nan Nelson of the Green Bay Chamber; Graham Ness, Insurance Associates; and Jeff Ottum and Ken Strmiska of the Green Bay Community Foundation. Strmiska has since resigned for employment outside the area, and has been replaced by John Bloor, N.E.W. Curative Rehabilitation.
For more information, contact:
Nan Nelson, EVP, Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce (920-437-8704 or
nelson@titletown.org)
About Destiny Health
Destiny Health's innovative consumer-directed health plan is designed to make people healthier and enhance and protect their lives, by balancing comprehensive health insurance coverage with incentives that motivate active participation in health care and reward healthy behaviors.
Destiny Health's consumer-focused strategy is modeled after Destiny Health's parent company, Discovery, an international life and health insurance company that has successfully enrolled over 1.8 million members in its medical plan since 1992. Combined, Destiny Health and Discovery are the largest providers of consumer-directed health care in the world.
Destiny Health has forged partnerships with some of the most respected and recognized names in the health and wellness field to help extend the reach of its consumer-directed health plan. The Destiny Health Plan is currently marketed by The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America in Illinois, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland and Texas. It is also available in Wisconsin through independent brokers. In addition, Destiny Health Plan members enjoy robust perks through partnerships with Life Time Fitness, Curves and other regional and local fitness facilities.
To learn more, visit http://www.destinyhealth.com/ .
For more information, contact Eileen Rochford for Destiny Health (773-463-2480,
eileenr@theharbingergroup.com)
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