Virtually every employer has it in their power to reduce their employee health care costs by 10-20 percent or more. The solution to the rising health care costs problem is a total health care system. Most cost savings potential will be centered in three areas: control of wasteful and often harmful use of the health care system; provider price negotiation; and cost avoidance through well-designed health promotion/wellness programs. Health promotion/wellness programs include: smoking policies and cessation programs; alcohol and drug abuse programs; high blood pressure and cholesterol screening and control programs; cancer screening; back injury prevention programs; automobile/industrial accident prevention; and stress management. The wellness programs of the future will be even more cost-beneficial than those of the past as quantitative, systematic design is utilized. Two issues have unnecessarily impeded wellness program implementation: funding and payback. Most companies have the potential to generate from $100 to $500 per employee annually from cost savings through truly comprehensive management of their current health benefit expenditures. Initial investments in appropriate well-targeted health promotion/wellness programs can yield substantial savings in health costs for many years to come. (ABL)