Years ago someone asked me what I do for a living. I thought about a response for a minute and said, “I try to get people to do what they don’t want to do”. The person looked at me with a curious expression and asked “what’s that?”. I said, “change.”
I had been a benefits broker at that time for over 30 years. It didn’t make sense to confuse this person and try to explain the concept of partial self-funding. Nor did we have the time to explain how stop loss works within a plan, or what a Third Party Administrator is. I didn’t want to get into what a Pharmacy Benefit Manager does, rebates to employers, and the like.
I didn’t want to take the time to explain how I assemble these plans, how I select the various vendors, or how these plans work differently to fully insured plans with insurance companies. It would all be too confusing to them and might end up going into the historical nature of healthcare in the United States and how all these plans have evolved over the years.
They looked at me and said, “Okay”. They didn’t ask any further questions and we moved on to the next topic. Which was “what do you do for a living?”
It is remarkable to me how many employers are reluctant to change. Rather than challenge the status quo, they are comfortable with it. Usually a CEO, CFO, a controller and other stakeholders in a company are open to change because they may have a financial stake in the alternatives I bring to the table. There are others in an organization who are resistant to change, sometimes because change means work. Extra work. It is amazing to me that complacency with a health plan seems to be rather common. Many employers look to their broker to bring alternatives, but at the end of the day those alternatives are only as good as the broker’s market knowledge, expertise, and accessibility to those markets.
“In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” – Warren Buffet
I know that cost isn’t everything, but what amount of savings will actually bring about consideration to change? 15%, 20%, 30%, or more? I hear from employers that they are comfortable with their costs, or they are comfortable with their broker, or their broker will bring them every conceivable option that exists on the planet. The reality is that the employer’s actual view and access to the marketplace is only as good as their broker.
I certainly respect and understand relationships that employers have with their brokers – I have them with my clients. I understand that their broker may be a personal friend. I understand that their relationship may be long-standing. And I understand that relationships may get in the way of change.
If there is no change of benefits to employees, is the perceived extra work simply a change of the ID card in one’s wallet or purse? Is the extra work simply setting up programs with a new vendor or vendors? Is the extra work about notifying employees of change? Is it about potentially changing relationships? Is it all or some of the above?
“Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy
In many cases change could about improvement, innovation, efficiency, savings, enhancements, and better employee goodwill. Change doesn’t have to be negative, and in fact in most cases it can be positive. Those who complain about more work do not want to embrace change because if, for some reason, things don’t work out as planned, they own it. They are more comfortable with the status quo and maintaining the current programs.
A change of approach in an organization can have a positive effect on employee attitudes and morale. A change in human resources philosophy that allows for more flexibility in their benefit options may be welcomed by employees. When a close-minded manager is replaced with one who welcomes new ideas, employees may feel that they have more input regarding their benefit options.
To them it’s more about “this is the way we’ve always done it, so this is the way were going to keep doing it”. My response is “if that’s the way you’ve always done it, then this is why you need to change it”.