Tag Archive for: healthcare

How Healthcare Consumerism is Changing Healthcare

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In today’s modern world, consumers have instant access to information about medical conditions and possible treatments. With so much information available at the touch a button, it only makes sense that consumers would want to take more control of their healthcare. Unfortunately, many consumers feel they do not have adequate information or the tools needed to make their own healthcare decisions.

According to a Consumer Reports survey of 1,000 insured adults who incurred a major medical bill, 2 out of 3 patients experience billing issues. These issues range from bills arriving months after treatment, to unclear statements and higher-than-expected charges. The same survey found that one-third of participants paid medical bills they weren’t sure they even owed. 20% of these participants paid over $1,000 on these bills.

It’s this confusion that’s driving consumers to demand transparency and better communication from their healthcare providers.

Healthcare Consumerism Increases Patient Involvement in Care

Healthcare consumerism puts patients in control. This economic model takes healthcare from fee-for-service to value-based care. Healthcare consumerism has the added benefit of making patients active participants in their own care. This improves outcomes and increases patient understanding of their health.

Healthcare consumerism isn’t new. In fact, literature dating back to the 1930s refers to patients as consumers. When applied to an employee health benefit plan, healthcare consumerism puts the economic purchasing power and decision-making in the hands of the participant.

Employer Involvement in Healthcare Consumerism

As patients become more involved in their healthcare decisions, it’s important that leaders support this change. Getting employees to become better healthcare consumers could help leaders better manage their healthcare costs. However, employers need to provide employees with more than just the tools to become better consumers. They need to provide them with the incentive to use these tools as well.

For example, employers could explain how choosing generic versions of brand-name drugs could save employees at the pharmacy. In addition to cost-savings, this type of education helps ensure employees do not skip out on important medications due to the high cost of brand-name drugs. Many employers also offer incentives like contributions to HSAs and HRAs.

Final Thoughts

While employees will likely pay higher premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in the coming years, healthcare will continue to make the shift toward value over volume. This will ultimately make healthcare more efficient and cost-effective for consumers.

MEBO helps employers develop employee benefit plans, custom-tailored to their needs and budget. Please contact us for information about our services.

 

What’s the Real Cost of Your Benefit Plan?

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Businesses spend a lot of money each year. While business owners have transparency of what they spend on goods and services, this isn’t typically true for healthcare. This is a problem as healthcare represents the second largest expense after payroll for most U.S. businesses. Another issue, most leaders have very little say when it comes to negotiating their employee benefit plan. This can lead to overspending with little understanding as to why.

Understanding the Real Price of Employee Healthcare

Leaders have many factors to consider when it comes to figuring out the true cost of their health plan. Although many insurance carriers would like employers to believe their annual bundled lump sum premiums make up the total cost of their health plan, there’s more that goes into figuring out this total. Employee health plans are made up of several different components. Each component has its own cost.

The components of an employee health plan include:

  • Medical claims
  • Pharmacy claims
  • Administration costs
  • Advisor commissions and fees

For years, insurance carriers have told employers that it’s difficult, if not impossible to control the total cost of their healthcare plan. This benefits no one but the insurance carrier.  Unfortunately, employers get very little information regarding what they pay for each component of their healthcare plan.

In 2018, a survey conducted by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance) found that 60% of employers estimate that up to 25% of their employee healthcare spending was wasted. Unfortunately, without transparency into healthcare spending, employers can only guess how much money gets wasted each year.

Employers Need Greater Transparency Into Their Healthcare Spending

At MEBO, we believe employers should have complete transparency of the costs of their healthcare plan. Employers shouldn’t blindly accept increases each year without knowing where they spend their dollars and why. Without this information, employers can’t plan budgets or understand how they spend their healthcare dollars.

In order to increase transparency and control over healthcare spend, employers could benefit from changing their approach to purchasing healthcare. All key components must be unbundled and a total cost provided for each area. This allows leaders to fully analyze what areas drive their healthcare costs. They can then use this information to develop a comprehensive plan based on what their employees actually need.

Using a level-funded approach, employers gain visibility, predictability, and greater financial protection over their healthcare spending. However, this approach may not be the best choice for every company. It’s important that employers speak with an experienced employee benefit specialist before deciding on or switching their health plan.

MEBO works directly with employers to evaluate their needs and develop a comprehensive solution custom-tailored to their requirements. Our process puts employers in the lead. This reduces costs and ensures complete transparency. Please contact us to schedule a consultation.