HRA Myths
By Pastor Sandy Rothschiller, ELCA Board of Pensions
Many of us think the Mayo Clinic Health Risk Assessment, or HRA, is an easy step. It takes about 30 minutes and pays you — if you receive ELCA-primary health coverage — for your effort. (How many times have you been compensated $200-per-hour rate?) What’s more, by taking the HRA, we help our synod congregations toward a 2% discount on health plan contributions.
1. I don’t understand what the HRA is.
Fair enough. Many of us haven’t taken one before. But the Board of Pensions has offered a very clear definition. It is a questionnaire placed on the Mayo Clinic EmbodyHealth web portal (web site) that asks you simple questions about your health and lifestyle habits. It takes your answers, identifies from them, generally, your health risks and strengths, and offers them up in a handy-dandy report.
2. It’s too complicated.
Okay, a few of us aren’t all that familiar with computers and the Internet yet. I’ll give this one to the few remaining old-schoolers. Still the Board of Pensions has made it easy. You log on to EmbodyHealth using your Quick Start guide (mailed to your home), follow the prompt to take the health risk assessment, and begin answering the questions. When you’re done, enter your contact information in the reward form, and presto, you’ve got $100 credited to your personal wellness account, or PWA.
3. I don’t have my numbers.
I have one question for you folks: Have you been in for annual check-ups? If yes, don’t put off taking the HRA. Call the clinic and ask for your numbers. My clinic gave me mine right over the phone. If you haven’t had one of the tests done and don’t have that number, don’t worry. Take the HRA now, choose the “I don’t know” response, and ask at your next checkup if the test is appropriate for you.
Now, if you haven’t been in for an annual checkup in the last year, 2008 is definitely the year to put your preventive medical benefit to work. Schedule an exam — at no cost to you — and then take the HRA.
4. I don’t need the money.
Okay, just checking to see who’s with me. Of course, we all need extra money, especially to help us cover our larger 2008 hospital and medical deductible. Every one of us should be taking this HRA and earning our $100 as an act of stewardship — as a way to care for our health, gain the most from the dollars offered, and save the congregations we serve money on their health plan contributions.
5. I don’t have the time.
It takes 10 minutes to register on EmbodyHealth. It takes another 15-20 minutes to take the assessment. That’s, at most, a half-hour commitment. Do any of us really not have one half-hour?
6. No one told me about this.
If this is why you haven’t taken the HRA, then you are officially being told right now. Since last spring, the Board of Pensions has carried the news about 2008 health plan changes, personal wellness dollars and the importance of taking the HRA to its plan members. These messages have reached plan members in print via newsletters and a special fall mailing, on the Board of Pensions web site and via in-person presentations at ELCA conferences and gatherings. But, it’s not too late to get up to speed! Visit the Board of Pensions web site at www.elcabop.org.
7. I’m afraid the EmbodyHealth web portal will not protect my confidentiality.
The HRA is completely confidential and secure. The Board of Pensions, your synod office and your employer will never see your responses to the HRA questions. The Board of Pensions and Blue Cross and Blue Shield do need to know IF you took the HRA so they can credit and administer your PWA and assess which synods have earned the 2% discount. But that information remains at the Board of Pensions; your bishop will not know what your health risks are or whether you take the HRA, ever.
8. I’m afraid to admit unhealthy lifestyle habits — even to myself.
Understandable, yet aren’t we taught by our faith to take small new steps each day? Doesn’t knowing that we are made new every day in baptism lessen our fears? The HRA is simply a tool to help us focus new attention on our health and take new steps toward greater wellness.
9. I’m afraid of discovering that I’m sicker than I thought.
Yet don’t we serve a church that supports us toward wellness? Doesn’t our health plan encourage us to take action toward greater health by covering medical and dental preventive services 100%? Don’t we view wellness as essential to the stewardship of our call to leadership? If you do have health issues that need attention, addressing them earlier rather than later is the best way to a healthier future.
10. I don’t want to pay to get a body fat test.
If you know your body fat percentage, enter that number when you take the HRA. If you don’t, just choose “no” to the question: “Have you had your body fat percentage measured in the past six months?” Body fat percentage is not a required entry. With or without it, you can complete the HRA, fill out the offer form and get $100 credited to your PWA.
