Small or large, employers value their employees and want to bring them the best health plan options they can find — and afford. Not only is it in the employee’s best interest, but benefits offerings are important for attracting and retaining top talent that businesses need.
That’s what insurance brokers and benefits consultants do — and the great ones recommend the highest value plan designs, features and pricing for their clients. Using data wisely, they analyze employee health figures, quantify financial risk, and create plan designs and incentives that drive better outcomes for employees. Every year, the largest companies use their resources to hire benefits experts to do just that.
What about smaller companies? Health premiums are exploding with the impact of the ACA’s community rating and employer mandate. Even for fully insured companies that are not affected by these mandates, renewals of 8-10 percent come in every year regardless of how healthy or sick the group is.
This “death by slow boiling” is frustrating finance and HR professionals at smaller companies that are left to figure things out on their own. The kind of detailed claims risk and demographic analysis traditionally available to big companies is out of their reach. With commission structures tied to the size of a company’s health plan premium, brokers are often left without suitable tools and with no incentives to drive savings.
Yet having access to these essential tools and insights are critical to leveling the playing field so employers of all sizes can find and design the right plan at the right cost for their specific employee group.
Data drives savings
Small employers, take heart. Platforms with cutting-edge technology are now available to small and mid-size companies, which help you to quickly and easily receive professional recommendations for the right health plans that could simultaneously drive value and better outcomes. A data-driven benefits software can optimize plan designs and contributions based off the specific needs of your employee health profile.
With a single click, the collection, analysis, and all insights can be automated to provide your employees a personalized risk assessment and health plan recommendation. As employers, the collected and anonymized insights help you understand and anticipate healthcare needs and expenses for your group during financial budget and benefits planning.
The combination of a powerful platform and expertise could save companies up to 20 percent off the cost of their health plans without sacrificing coverage.
Data drives clear decisions
Saving money and maximizing value is a large part of what data-driven benefits consultants do. Technology is making this sophisticated analysis increasingly accessible for small companies. M Making the best decisions requires easy to interpret insights that you can act on. With many companies today spread over multiple states and regions, data-driven benefits software and enrollment software makes choosing the right health plan simple for employees and their dependents.
There’s no insurance jargon; custom-tailored health plan recommendations are presented in a clear, straightforward manner — where the employee’s estimated expenses and needs (doctor and prescription coverage) are mapped to the health plan that will provide them the highest value. There’s no need to learn a new language.
Tariq Hilaly is co-founder and CEO of Lumity. The company uses sophisticated data insights and technology to help small and medium sized businesses make better health plan and benefits decisions that drive the most value for both employer and employee. Formerly he was co-founder and chief investment officer of Motif Investing. Visit www.lumity.com or call (844) 258-6489.
