Public Health
An exercise reported in the American Journal of Public Health asked low-income workers to prioritize services for an employee benefits plan, finding that health care was the highest-priority benefit overall.
Researchers found that low-income employees did not choose benefits such as wellness and nutrition programs that might directly improve their health. The authors noted that respondents instead chose to rely on their own resources to meet their dietary and exercise needs.
The study concluded that benefits for low-income employees should be designed to improve socioeconomic factors that influence health, noting that such benefits packages could complement existing public health programs targeted at low-income populations (Danis et al., American Journal of Public Health, September 2007).