An Ounce of Prevention Saves Cash and Keeps Employees Healthy

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Your GuideStone® medical coverage can help your employees stay healthy — with no out-of-pocket costs to them — just by taking advantage of your health plan's preventive care offerings.

Plus, when they stay healthy, it can keep your costs in check, too!

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 things your ministry can do to encourage employees to use preventive care:

  • Provide each employee with a copy of your plan's Preventive Care Schedule.
  • Share a copy of this handout to help them develop a plan to use their benefits.
  • Encourage them to use SmartShopper® to earn cash back on preventive mammograms and colonoscopies.

Preventive care saves dollars and improves lives.

Compare the cost for preventive care services versus treatment for these common conditions. Encourage your employees to take advantage of preventive care to monitor their health.

Preventive care screening options Insurance participant's charge Estimated cost for treatment What's the risk?
Diabetes screening Free for those age 40 and older once every three years. $237 billion per year is spent on direct costs relating to diabetes.1 The average person with diabetes spends about 2.3 times more on medical care than someone without diabetes, with $9,601 per year in diabetes-related spending.2 If current trends continue, 1 in 3 Americans will develop diabetes sometime in their lifetime.1
Mammogram One preventive mammogram per year for all women age 40 and older. The average cost to treat breast cancer is about between $20,000 and $100,000.3 In 2022, more than 280,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women.4
Colon cancer screening One preventive colonoscopy per year for men and women age 50 and older. The total annual expenditure for colorectal cancer treatment is $14.1 billion.5 Chemotherapy cost for colon cancer: $45,997.6 Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related death in the United States, and 9 in 10 cases are among men and women over age 50.5