Preventive Care Strengthens Employees and Budgets

Employees can stay healthier — with no out-of-pocket costs — just by taking advantage of your health plan’s preventive care offerings.

Plus, it can also keep your ministry’s costs in check when they stay healthy!

Easy Ways to Promote Preventive Care

Many employees don’t utilize these important services because they’re not aware of the benefits or believe they are too busy to make an appointment.

Here are a few easy ways your ministry can encourage employees to use preventive care offered in their GuideStone^® health plan:¹

Provide each employee with the Preventive Schedule to help them learn what is considered preventive care and how often to get screened.
Share a simple five-step plan on how to use preventive care.
Explain how employees can earn cash rewards by using SmartShopper^® to shop for health care services such as mammograms and colonoscopies.²
Help employees understand the difference between preventive and diagnostic care.

Cost Comparison: Preventive and Diagnostic Care

Compare the cost of preventive care services versus treatment (diagnostic care) for three common health conditions. Encourage employees to take advantage of preventive care to detect issues early, which can lower claims and help reduce costs.

Preventive care services	Health Plan Members' preventive care cost³	Estimated cost for diagnostic treatment	What's the risk?
Diabetes screening	Covered at 100%: high-risk: ages 40 and older, once every three years	$237 billion per year is spent on direct costs relating to diabetes.⁴ The average person with diabetes spends about 2.6 times more on medical care than someone without diabetes.⁵	48% to 64% of lifetime medical costs for a person with diabetes are for complications related to diabetes, such as heart disease and stroke.⁴
Mammogram	Covered at 100%: ages 40 and older: once a year, including 3D	The average cost to treat breast cancer is approximately between $35,000 and $76,100.⁶	Approximately 290,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed among women annually.⁷
Colon cancer screening	Covered at 100%: ages 45 and older: every one to 10 years	The average cost to treat colorectal cancer is approximately between $66,500 and $110,100.⁸	Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the U.S. An estimated 150,000 new cases are diagnosed annually.⁹

An Ounce of Prevention Goes a Long Way

Preventive care can help your employees stay at their healthiest as they advance the Kingdom of God. At GuideStone, we’re here to help your employees lead resilient lives in all seasons of their ministry. For more information, contact us at Insurance@GuideStone.org or 1-844-INS-GUIDE (1-844-467-4843), Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT.

GuideStone welcomes the opportunity to share this general information. However, this article is not intended to be relied upon as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

¹Not applicable for Cigna International plans and Medicare-coordinating plans.
²Not available with Blue High Performance Network℠ or Medicare-coordinating plans.
³Review your health plan documents and consult with your health plan provider to determine the services available to you. Make sure you know what is covered by your health plan and any requirements before you receive preventive services.
⁴CDC.gov/nccdphp/priorities/diabetes-interventions.html
⁵Diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/new-american-diabetes-association-report-finds-annual-costs-diabetes-be
⁶CDC.gov/nccdphp/priorities/breast-cancer.html
⁷Komen.org/breast-cancer/facts-statistics/breast-cancer-statistics
⁸CDC.gov/nccdphp/priorities/colorectal-cancer.html
⁹Cancer.org/cancer/types/colon-rectal-cancer/about/key-statistics.html