Today more than ever before, benefits and human resources professionals are struggling to provide their teams with quality coverage at affordable rates. Costs have skyrocketed for the more than 150 million Americans who receive healthcare coverage through their workplace — more than doubling since 2008, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Private health spending by businesses has steadily grown year after year and accounts
With the complexities surrounding the decision-making process for benefits programs, businesses often feel unaware, or worse yet, misled when it comes to their foundational rights regarding health plans.
Enter the
Knowledge is power
The employer bill of rights is rooted in the mission that every business owner needs to take responsibility for providing the best possible benefits program to their employees. Businesses can utilize the employer bill of rights as a tool and learn how to pay for healthcare like any other business expense.
With the employer bill of rights, employers are empowered to:
1. Pay a fair amount for healthcare.
Healthcare costs are often the second largest operating expense after employee wages. Employers do not have to accept the status quo for their health plan and pay significantly inflated medical expenses.
2. Know what healthcare services actually cost.
A traditional PPO health plan typically leaves the employer in the dark about how plan parameters were set by the insurer and medical provider. Businesses have a right to know the cost of medical services.
3. Audit medical bills.
Billing mistakes and inflation of medical charges are common. Businesses and individuals have a right to carefully evaluate healthcare expenses. A line-by-line auditing of medical bills helps ensure the charges are accurate and fair.
4. Explore your health plan options.
By partnering with an informed and experienced healthcare consultant, employers can discover health plan options beyond the traditional PPO model. A self-funded health plan, where employers pay for medical claims as services are rendered instead of providing ongoing and advanced payments to an insurance company, can take employers on the path toward more control over healthcare spending.
Self-funding is on the rise, with the number of businesses deciding to self-insure increasing by nearly $37 between 1996 and 2015, according to the
5. Offer your employees a comprehensive and affordable benefits program.
Employees count on their employer-sponsored health plans to be reliable and financially feasible. Employers have a right to offer healthcare solutions that minimize the financial burden on the plan member.
6. Design a health plan to meet your unique needs.
The best health plans are well-rounded and flexible. Employers have the right to customize their health plan to determine the approach that best suits the needs of their business and team. Unlike traditional health plans, self-funded plans are customizable.
7. Defend the best interests of your business and your employees when paying for healthcare.
Surprise medical bills and inflated prices are common, but healthcare finances do not have to be handled alone. Employers and individuals have the right to access advocacy services that support fair and reasonable healthcare payments and help employers meet their fiduciary responsibility.
8. Make direct connections with providers and health systems.
Fair outcomes can be achieved when people work together. By creating direct partnerships with providers and health systems in their communities, employers can become good stewards of healthcare by building bridges and driving quality healthcare experiences for all.
The path to activism
Change in healthcare is possible when businesses take charge and challenge the status quo. As we continue to see the rise of self-funded health plans, the growth of reference-based, or metric-based, pricing is following suit.
The reference-based pricing approach starts at the bottom with an actual cost amount, then adds a fair profit margin to calculate a total cost of service. Simply stated, it allows employers to utilize rational limits of payment to medical providers instead of relying on the traditional PPO model.
Businesses can be activists for change by standing up against out-of-control healthcare costs, and they can start by adopting the employer bill of rights and investigating reference-based pricing. By innovating their healthcare solutions and turning away from insurance plans which have failed to adapt to the changing healthcare landscape, business owners have the opportunity to improve the health plans they offer their employees, transform their bottom line and help spark reform for businesses across the country.
