Making smarter health plan design choices can help your people understand their benefits better and use those benefits more effectively. As you might imagine, this can pay off for both your people and your company in a variety of ways.
Empower your people to take advantage of health plan incentives
Research shows that consumers who don’t understand their health benefits fail to respond to the incentives embedded in those plans. For example, if your population is visiting the ER more often, you may decide to add a coinsurance to the existing copay for those visits. While your hope is that this will incentivize your people to go to urgent care instead, many don’t fundamentally understand how copay and coinsurance work, lowering the possibility that they will use the incentive. Plan designs with clear incentives can ensure both your company and your people don’t end up paying more for their care than they need to.
76% of employees who rated their benefits package as excellent or very good also gave high marks to their employer as a place to work
Help your people reduce the stress of dealing with healthcare-related issues
Nearly three-quarters of American adults have received a medical bill they didn’t understand. (Frankly, we’re surprised that number isn’t higher!). There can be a lot of jargon and legalese to wade through, and when a patient needs to pull out an 80 page plan contract, a dictionary, and a calculator each time they open the mail, it can get more than a little frustrating. With smarter health plan designs your people will have a better chance of understanding their benefits and can avoid the sticker shock of an unexpected bill.
Increase productivity and job satisfaction
Employee satisfaction with benefits is closely linked to overall satisfaction with their company. In a recent study, 76% of employees who rated their benefits package as excellent or very good also gave high marks to their employer as a place to work. However, only 18% of those who rate their benefits poorly gave high marks to their employer. Health plans that your people can better understand and use will greatly improve their satisfaction with their benefits.
Support your company’s efforts to recruit talented people
Your people are your best recruiters. And when they’re happy (see previous bullet point), they tell their friends. You might also use this as a discussion point to help open conversations with your people about health care planning: ask them if they’d mention their benefits in a recruiting conversation with a friend? Why or why not?
Overall, the investment you make in health plan design will have strong ROI for both your people and your company. It pays to make smarter health plan design choices!
