The Latest Articles regarding Employee Benefits, Employee Retention, Medical/Tax Expense

If You Don't Take Care of Your People, Your Competition Will.

A significant portion of the workforce no longer feels like they're getting what they need from their current employers. This has ushered in what’s called “The Great Resignation,” where 41% of employees are considering leaving their current employer in 2021—and 46% of workers are planning to make a major pivot or career transition. This opportunistic attitude is only fueled by the uptick in remote and hybrid roles that have opened up new doors for employees who didn’t previously have these options.

Companies now recognize the importance of retaining their best talent by addressing their personal and professional needs, prioritizing their wellbeing, and providing them with flexible benefit options. Employers who fail to do so in a post-pandemic world will risk losing their top-performing employees to competitors.

Article by BlueBoard.com

Helping Employees Maximize Health Benefits

Dr. Randall found that offering this type of health benefit was not enough. He wanted to help his employees take full advantage of the individual health insurance market.

This was an added challenge when he discovered that his employees were in need of general education about the individual health insurance market itself.

“We talked to them about all of the different plans that are available: the gold, silver, and bronze [plans]. [We] try and help them understand so that when there is an open enrollment period, they do take the initiative and [take] the money available to them.”

In doing this, Dr. Randall has created an environment where his employees feel comfortable asking important questions. Frequently, he brings in a health insurance professional so that his employees have the opportunity to learn more about the health benefit options available to them.

Article by peoplekeep.com

A Small Business Success Story - Hint: It Starts with Employee Benefits (peoplekeep.com)

Introduction and Summary

About half of Americans receive health coverage through employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI).

1. While satisfaction with employer-sponsored insurance is generally high, premiums for that coverage have risen faster than workers’ wages over the past five years.

2. Cost sharing is also increasingly placing a financial burden on workers and their families. According to a 2019 survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and The Los Angeles Times, 2 in 5 adults enrolled in employer-sponsored coverage reported difficulty affording health care or insurance costs.

3. Half of those who struggle to afford health care costs reported delaying their or a family member’s needed care or medication due to cost.

4. Rising health care prices—not utilization—is the primary driver of the rising cost of commercial insurance.

5. With commercial rates for hospital care averaging 224 percent of Medicare rates, employers and workers are paying far higher prices than public payers for the same services.

6. If employers can negotiate lower prices for health care services, they can secure lower premiums for the coverage they sponsor. Furthermore, lower prices—if they are not achieved to the detriment of quality or access to care—also benefit employees by reducing their premiums and cost sharing.

Article by americanprogress.org

Employer- and Worker-Led Efforts To Lower Health Insurance Costs - Center for American Progress

Stay Informed on Health Policy

Individual employers have limited ability to negotiate lower prices for their insurance plans. Banding together with other firms or with workers, however, gives them a greater chance of successfully using their combined buying power to obtain fair provider prices.

For this report, the authors interviewed leaders of four groups that bring together employers or workers in an effort to reduce the cost of ESI: Peak Health Alliance, a Colorado health care purchasing alliance dedicated to making health care in the state more affordable; Catalyst for Payment Reform, a national organization representing health care purchasers; the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, an organization dedicated to bringing transparency to health care prices through policy and education; and the Uplift initiative within Oregon’s RISE Partnership, a collaboration between public employee unions and the state that provides education about worker benefits.

This report analyzes these case studies to outline the keys to the successes of these organizations. Common strategies include building coalitions around shared interests; obtaining and sharing data on health care prices; and proactively informing employees about changes in their health coverage. This analysis, as well as the contextual discussion of rising ESI costs, provides important guidance for other employers and groups hoping to improve ESI affordability.