Why-is-changing-health-plans-so-scary

You’re in a quandary.

The economy is booming, but good talent is hard to find.  You know that the #1 benefits employees look for is a robust employer health plan.

According to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, healthcare premiums have been rising 5% or more per year with deductibles rising 8 times faster than workers’ wages.  As an executive, can you keep increasing employee deductibles and raising their premiums to meet your profitability targets?

Soon, you’ll be meeting with your insurance broker, reviewing how much of an increase you’ll have to pay this year.  After the broker leaves, you fear the inevitable – a serious discussion with your HR Manager and/or CFO, and you will all need to ask yourselves some scary questions around changing your healthcare plan:

How long can we keep doing this? Will our employees keep paying higher rates and increased deductibles – or will they leave to go somewhere else?

You may have considered wellness plans to improve employee health and drive down costs.  Many employers are implementing programs that encourage employees to lead healthy lifestyles to reduce premiums.  Carrier incentive programs, flu shots, and biometric testing are all great options to improve your employees’ health, both individually and for their families.

While employee wellness should be encouraged, a new study finds that employers aren’t saving as much money as they’d hoped by investing in these programs.  If you’re aiming to reduce your healthcare premiums immediately, it might be time to look for a new solution.

You might think that changing health plans will be difficult, especially if you’ve been ingrained in the same old health plan system year after year.  It can be downright scary to you, your team, and your employees to consider alternatives.  And the thought of saying those five little words, “we’re changing our health plan…” might strike terror in the hearts of the most dedicated employees.

 

How do you get over the fear of rising costs, potential employee dissatisfaction, and the hardship of implementing a new health plan?

First, remember what a health plan does: it provides security for employees and their loved ones.  It’s one less thing to worry about when someone in your family gets sick.  It helps keep your staff feeling secure and productive in the workplace.

Second, it attracts talent.  Health benefits are a must in a robust economy to attract – and retain – top talent.  It’s a market-driven offering you must have to remain competitive.

Next, your health plan is a system that your HR staff manages.  It needs to be easy to administer without creating overhead.  You might have had the same health plan for years, but if your staff is pulling out their hair trying to manage your insurance carrier’s portal, is it really all that productive?

Finally, it must be cost effective. Your premiums and the overhead to manage it should not be so high that you have to cut back on other business priorities – like investments in infrastructure to grow your business.

 

While change may be scary, if your current plan doesn’t meet these criteria, it’s time to find a solution that does meet your critical needs:  security, talent-attracting, easy to manage, and cost-effective. 

Self-funded insurance plans are an alternative option to consider.  These robust plans are tailored to your specific needs and employee demographics.  You don’t pay for what you don’t need, but you can still create programs that keep everyone satisfied.

The first step is a few minutes of your time to find out how it can help drive results in your company.  You’ll be surprised at the cost and the wealth of offerings, and we’ll help you make that transition announcement that might be scary but prove to be effective for the long term.

First, we will go over the numbers with our in-depth reporting and comparisons to your current plan.  After this, you’ll know if it meets the cost-effectiveness criteria.  Next, we’ll go over it with HR and they’ll see it’s easy to manage with our intuitive HRIS interface.  You’ll also get to see the array of providers included in the plan to make sure it will help you remain competitive and keep your staff happy.

And what about that scary announcement to the staff?  We’ll help you do that too.  We’ll show how much it will cost, what providers are included, and how an alternative plan, such as self-funding will meet the #1 criteria: providing security for your staff and their loved ones.

While change might seem scary, you just need to take the first step.  Talk to the experts who’ve been there before and know what to do.  That’s why we’re successful at what we do because we have the knowledge, tools, experience, and advice you need to make that leap to a new frontier.

 

Are you scared to change your healthcare plan? Let us put you at ease – contact EVHC today and let’s evaluate your current plan. Discover how easy it is to change your healthcare plan and save. It doesn’t have to be scary.

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