Everyone who attends my workshops is always looking for answers as to how to reduce their healthcare and insurance costs. Employers are faced with continual rate increases by insurance companies, and dealing with growing dissatisfaction among employees because their rising insurance costs far exceed their wage increases.
When you think about it, who on your healthcare team has an incentive for your costs go down? Well, we first have to define the team:
- Hospitals
- Doctors.
- Insurance companies
- Drug manufacturers
- Brokers and insurance agents
You can probably name a number of others to add to the list, but who on this team has any incentive for your costs go down?
Unfortunately, the reality is that none of them have an incentive for your cost to go down. In fact, all of them have a financial incentive for your costs to go up. They make more money!!
This is the reality that employers are facing – an uphill battle of combating the ever-increasing group of institutions that want more money at their businesses expense. Hospitals, doctors, imaging, and other facilities continue to charge more and more each year, and some could argue that the quality goes down.
Drug manufacturers are charging huge amounts of money for drugs that quite frankly, are unsustainable and unaffordable by anyone at their present rate.
Obamacare took insurance companies out of the fight to lower healthcare costs by limiting their cost of administration to 20% of the premium that they collect. The only way they make more money is to make 20% of a higher premium. They want $1.00 of premium to go up to $1.30 or more, and still get their 20% of the higher amount. They actually like it when hospitals, doctors, and drug manufacturers increase their costs to employers.
Insurance agents and brokers make a greater commission when premiums go up. Similar to the insurance companies, brokers and agents get a pay raise when you get a rate increase. They have no incentive for your cost to go down. They may show you a different option at a lessor cost than the increase, but they still get a wage increase at your expense.
What’s employers need is an advisor and partner who would actually make money when your costs go down. It’s called charging a fee on a percentage of savings. No savings no expense. If you’re going to hire an advisor, why shouldn’t they have skin in the game? No solution, no pay.
Every business relies on an advisor to bring solutions to their business. Why wouldn’t this be the same for your health plan? When was the last time that your broker brought you a solution that could save you 20% to 50%?
If you like this concept and would like to learn more, please feel free to give me a call at 970-349-7707 or email me at [email protected].
I have solutions.
