HCW Benefits Blog

Contributor:
Chris Tutino, Communications Specialist
Hill, Chesson & Woody

The employee benefits arena is really interesting, especially when you think about it in terms of consumerism.  While I don’t pretend to be an expert in either of those topics (employee benefits or consumerism), I am starting to draw some conclusions as they relate to the reduction in healthcare costs for employers, employees and (yes) insurance carriers.

In today’s healthcare environment, claims drive insurance rates. And, where are claims initiated? They begin with the consumer. Nothing can be charged by a healthcare provider (doctor, hospital, surgeon, etc.) if an individual doesn’t need care. And, since employers are a provider of medical insurance for employees, business owners bear the brunt of that expense. Much can be said about the coding of specific procedures recorded by physicians and how that all plays into what insurance companies will or will not cover. But, at the end of the day, we’re not having this discussion if employees are healthy and don’t have a need for the professional services of a licensed physician.

While I was reading this article from CFO.com, the title struck me as unfair to the consumer – “How to Stamp Out Irrational Health Choices.” In my opinion, the word, “irrational,” does not hit the mark. It places the blame on employees who are largely at a loss when it comes to making informed and educated decisions regarding the selection of a healthcare plan for themselves, their spouses and their children. As if anyone wants to be labeled as irrational, it is somewhat self-defeating for a C-Suite executive to agree or believe that their employees are not logical or reasonable when they make a poor health plan selection.

As owners of companies and leaders of the workforce, what is being done to help employees as consumers make more “rational” decisions? What is your company’s approach to teaching your internal consumers about the pitfalls of one plan offering over another? After all, your employee benefit plan is a large portion of the expenditures you will incur this year. Plus, how that expenditure is utilized, either wisely or unwisely, will directly affect how much it costs you next year.

The on-boarding process of new employees is longer than any enrollment meeting I’ve ever experienced. Certainly, it is crucial to teach employees how to bring in revenue for your company.  I think it makes sense that you’d want to spend more than an hour or two in an open enrollment meeting helping people understand their benefits choices.

The old ways of presenting benefits to your internal consumers don’t work anymore. Like it or not, you have a product to sell that is outside of your key offerings and the way you make money, and it’s called your employee benefit package. Employees can’t be good consumers of that offering if they don’t have a logical, step-by-step process to evaluate the care they will receive each and every year you offer it.

While I as an employee benefits communicator appreciate the behavioral biases presented in the article referenced above that are intended to help persuade choices, I think the tone with which benefits packages are communicated needs to shift from one that assumes employees are “irrational” to one that proactively guides employees to the best decisions. I’d much rather be labeled “uneducated” because it means I can improve my up-front elections as well as my ongoing healthcare choices moving forward. I just need the time to evaluate what’s being offered and the tools that will lead me to a “rational” conclusion.

Hill, Chesson & Woody strives to provide employers with the tools needed to customize employee benefit communication plans for their workforce. We've also developed a new class for our clients this year called, "Not Just HSAs: Making Employees Better Consumers of Healthcare."

How can you affect consumerism in your workplace? Do you think it is important? What would more informed employees mean to you?