Arguments about cuts and budgets have been filling the social media for some time. Everyone is short of cash, not to mention in danger of being cut.
We need to take long-term decisions that are sustainable over time. Changes that should have been started yesterday, perhaps as long ago as possible, but which can be done today, but which may be too late tomorrow. Changes that affect the health and well-being of us all.
We are not well off
If you’re a healthy person, you’re doing very well and hopefully you’ve taken independent steps to improve your health. But let’s look around us. Are we a healthy country? Yet we are collectively paying for everyone’s medical costs, which are rising.
For example, in terms of healthy life years, we are more than three years behind the EU average, and five years behind for men. The average healthy life years of an Estonian man is only 58 years. Compared with the Nordic countries, the gap in healthy life years is already more than ten years. We are not a healthy country.
The strength of the health system is the key to our future and how long each of us can support the public purse. To make sure we have a long life ahead of us, we should take control of our own health, because we have the power to make a conscious difference. By the time we get to the hospital in the ambulance, it’s too late. We need to anticipate problems and find solutions at an early stage.
A fruit basket is not enough
When a worker is sick, every day of absence increases the damage to both the state and the employer. The first solution, of course, is to follow all the health advice and not get sick. However, avoiding this is not always possible.
If waiting times in public health care are too long, then inevitably expensive private medicine will have to be looked at, and the cost of visits is certainly not affordable for everyone. As a result, workers are increasingly absent from work because access to the right treatment takes time.
However, private medicine is one option for a quick solution. You can also get there with less effort.
Employer-provided health insurance is a rising trend in Estonia. It has been well established in neighbouring countries for some time. It is a good opportunity to tap into the hearts of employers, who have a vested interest in having the healthiest and most productive employees possible. How do you, as an employer, contribute to employee health promotion? There are many ways, a fruit basket is no longer enough.
The easiest way is to use the tax exemption of €400 granted by the state for employee health benefits. For this, the employee can engage in preventive health activities (e.g. exercise and physiotherapy), but also buy health insurance with the help of the employer. This is a win-win situation for both public health and the employer, who can be sure that the employee will find the fastest and best treatment solution.
Fortunately, a glance at the legislation shows that from the new year, the quarterly exemption limit for health benefits will be abolished and the categories of services that can be reimbursed by the employer to the employee for health purposes will be extended. However, the amount – €400 per year – will remain the same.
Hopefully, employers will realise that such support is not a cost, but that every euro spent saves the company several euros more in sick days and efficiency. But the state might want to consider whether €400 a year is worth the same in 2025 as it was seven years ago.
The more opportunities there are to support health, the healthier we are.
Find the best way to support the health of your employees: https://business.stebby.ee/
