3 Human Resource Strategies to Reduce Health Insurance Costs

  

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We are deep into open-enrollment season, that time of year when many companies roll out changes to their health insurance plan. Some of the changes will be increased costs, higher deductibles and narrower networks.

It is more important than ever to communicate these changes to your employees pro-actively and find ways to minimize the cost increases. This can be accomplished at open enrollment meetings. It is a great time to inform employees what is happening to the benefits program being offered, what is happening within your organization and what is happening that will directly affect them.

We use this time with our clients to build a message that delivers the news with as much positive slant as we can. It’s hard to tell them that their contribution is going up or that the co-insurance is changing and have it come across positively. There are 3 strategies to to soften the financial impact on employees with plan design changes.

One of the ways is to implement a tax savings account such as a Health Savings Account (HAS). Simply said, this is a tool that increases the plan deductible for everyone which reduces the plan cost. Your organization sets aside some of that savings to offset for everyone's increased deductible. This is usually a win win for everyone.

Another one of the tools we use is plan design. We find so many times that plans offer only one plan and it is the “Cadillac” plan. The plan is the best one available but also the most expensive. A quick study of utilization will tell you if offering lower cost plans as an option is a better way to go. This will reduce the cost for everyone.

Another strategy is to implement a Wellness program. This will have a long term effect on your human capital investment but also your health insurance costs. There are many ways to start a wellness program and many resources that go with it. But it must be a culture change within your organization.

So these are three strategies you can use to reduce your costs, improve employee morale and communicate a positive message.