A health mandate that business can live with (Harvard Business Review)

Whether the Supreme Court upholds the health care law or not won’t change the fact that employee health costs have become the third-largest expense in business today. A report from the Milken Institute found direct medical costs combined with ill health-induced absenteeism and presenteeism—employees show up for work but are less productive—costs American businesses more than $1.3 trillion per year. Holding everyone accountable for their own health could be the solution employers are looking for. A 2010 study by Harvard health economist Katherine Baicker found that for every dollar spent on wellness, “medical costs fall by about $3.27 … and absenteeism costs fall by about $2.73.”