Proud owners of companies, changes in health insurance

ON HAPPINESS: Business owners are the happiest Americans, according to a recent survey. Those working in manufacturing are the least satisfied.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that business owners scored highest, with 72.5, in "overall well-being" in a poll of more than 100,000 Americans in 11 sectors. Professionals and managers/executives came in at No. 2 (71.5) and No. 3 (70.9).

People making up the three top-scoring occupations are also those with the highest household income, Gallup said. Business owners do make a bit less than professionals and managers/executives, but scored highest on a measure of job satisfaction and work environment.

Gallup constructed its measure of "overall well-being" by asking respondents questions about how they feel and what is happening in their life in six different areas, such as work environment; self-evaluation; physical health; healthy behaviors, such as not smoking; emotional satisfaction; and access to basic necessities such as food, shelter and health care.

Least satisfied were, from the bottom up, those employed in manufacturing, with a score of 62.1, followed by transportation (62.6), services (64.0), installation (64.4) and construction (65.0).

Farming, fishing and forestry workers scored fourth-best (67.8) _ even though they tied with service workers for the lowest average income of the 11 categories.

Money isn't everything: farmers, fishers and forestry workers topped the measures of "emotional health" and "healthy behavior," said Gallup, while manufacturing workers, the least happy overall, were on the bottom of both those lists.

Those in sales were in the No. 5 slot (67.6) on the list, while clerical works came in sixth (66.1).

The Gallup-Healthways poll randomly surveyed 100,826 U.S. adults by phone from Jan. 2-Aug. 19. The survey has a sampling error of less than 3 percentage points for all occupations other than farmers and small business owners, where it is 5 percentage points.

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NEXT YEAR'S HEALTH BENEFITS: Health care costs for U.S. workers are likely to rise next year, and companies are going to increasingly crack down on providing coverage to families of employees in an effort to cut costs, says consulting firm Watson Wyatt.

If you want your spouse to be included in your company's health insurance plan when you sign up for benefits in 2010, you could be paying an extra $600 to $1,000 a year if he or she has coverage available elsewhere, said Tom Billet, senior consultant with Watson Wyatt. That's what he pinpointed as an average surcharge.

That could be a benefit to U.S. workers, cost-wise _ it can sometimes be cheaper to be covered under your own employer's plan than to be part of your spouse's family plan, he said.

But the flipside is, if you don't like your own insurance plan and prefer to be getting the same coverage as your spouse, then it's increasingly likely you're going to have to pay extra for that privilege, Billet said.

Companies are also likelier to check up on the eligibility of employees' dependents, he said. Many more are going to require that workers provide proof that their dependents _ almost always children _ fit the plan's rules for coverage. That usually means they're under 19, or 23 if they're full-time students.

But there's good news too: Many American companies aren't backing away from financial incentives for preventive health measures. They're also continuing disease management and wellness programs that they've set up for employees, Billet said.

That may sound paltry next to deductibles you pay that the consultancy sees rising by $50 to $100 for many companies, as well as bigger copays on doctor visits.

But there have been studies showing that about half of all medical costs are lifestyle- and behavior-related, said Tom Billet, senior consultant with Watson Wyatt. Encouraging fitness and healthful lifestyles in employees can prompt savings on claims, and also increase workers' productivity and general well-being, he said.

Companies are increasingly likely to furnish employees with gift cards, a contribution to health savings accounts or cold hard cash to the tune of $100 to $300 per person, he said, in order to entice you to get health appraisals, join a program that helps you quit smoking or helps you manage a chronic disease such as diabetes.

Some companies will also provide that service for a spouse, he said.