E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) has a two-century-old tradition of caring for the safety and health of our employees. Due to the nature of our early business — manufacturing explosives in the 1800s — company leadership instilled strong core values of employee safety and health. Today, as we create new scientific advancements in the areas of the agriculture and nutrition food value chain, differentiated advanced materials, and transformational bio-based businesses, we continue to emphasize not only on-the-job safety of employees but also their overall health and well-being. DuPont provides onsite occupational-related employee health services and comprehensive health care benefits for 35,000 U.S. employees, 56,000 of their dependents and 80,000 U.S. retirees. 

In spite of the recent evolutionary changes occurring in the health care service-delivery models resulting from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, DuPont remains committed to ensuring that employees and their families have access to high-quality health care at an affordable price. We do, however, want our employees to be aware of their health risks and be informed consumers of health care services when they need them. This is why we emphasize the value of consumerism in our plan designs and provide financial motivation for employees to “know their numbers.” 

In 2013, we introduced a medical premium incentive of $240 per year if an employee: 

• Completed an online health risk assessment; 
• Completed a biometric screening (key blood tests, blood pressure, body mass index); and 
• Registered an account with our health care transparency partner, Castlight Health. 

We believe these three steps make employees more aware of their health conditions (and, hopefully, more likely to take appropriate action) and help them understand how to be better consumers by using the Castlight Health online tool. 

To further support employee engagement, DuPont encouraged participation in a high-deductible plan through a strategy of plan simplification, multifaceted communications and favorable premium pricing. In 2013, we merged numerous different plan designs into only two different plans where all features are identical except for the deductible and the health savings account company contribution. This resulted in 65 percent of our employees selecting the high-deductible consumer-oriented plan — up from 15 percent in the prior year. 

Going forward, we will build upon our “simple is effective” approach to plan design, collaborate with our partners to ensure access to high quality care, help employees improve their current and future health conditions, and provide tools and information to enable them to be informed and empowered consumers when they must enter the health care delivery system.