<\/p>\n
As companies are getting close to the end of their open enrollment period, they are thinking at least about two things:<\/p>\n
These two points come across all the time as we are talking to CEOs, CFOs and benefit advisors.\u00a0 So, it came as no surprise that precisely these two points are on top of the list of 600 employers recently surveyed by Marsh & McLennan Agency<\/a> and nicely summarized for a BenefitsPRO article<\/a> by Todd Bennett<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pandemic has created new urgency for employers to create a culture of well-being. In doing so, organizations can keep employees centered on the mission, while maintaining productivity and team morale.\u201d\u00a0 This thought expands on my first bullet point.\u00a0 Understandably, during such a challenging year well-being and happiness of employees are on top of employers\u2019 wish list.<\/p>\n \u201cOur survey found that 83% \u2013 an extraordinarily high figure \u2013 are focused on managing or reducing health care expenses. It was the top concern relating specifically to the health and welfare programs offered to employees.\u201d\u00a0 While the stock market hits record highs seemingly every day, the economy has a long way to catch up.\u00a0 A historically high number of small- and mid-size businesses are on the brink of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n The payers don\u2019t care about businesses.\u00a0 It\u2019s quite clear.\u00a0 My Aetna premium has just jumped 6.3% for the exactly the same offering.\u00a0 No warning.\u00a0 No explanation.\u00a0 While Aetna seems to be on the high end of cost increases, with the average increase in insurance premiums of 4.1%, this is still far above inflation expectations of 1.7% suggested by the current 5-year breakeven rate.\u00a0 Is this what a healthcare dictatorship<\/strong> looks like?\u00a0 This has got to stop.\u00a0 However, this payer oligopoly will only change when employers start saying No to these outrageous actions by the payers.\u00a0 My guess is that despite the economic pressure, the management of most companies is too entrenched with the big insurers by now.\u00a0 The management keeps violating its judiciary duty.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for the shareholders and for the boards to start firing the managers!<\/p>\n Outside of these clear corporate governance problems in the healthcare industry, employers can show exactly how they make their employees happier and healthier by implementing changes in their group benefits.\u00a0 This is exactly what they say they want to do according to their answers to the Marsh & McLennan\u2019s survey.\u00a0 Employers: please do your job!<\/p>\n There are two ways for employers to fight the healthcare dictatorship \u2013 the right way and the easy way.<\/p>\n The right way to fix healthcare from an employer standpoint is to realize that supporting big payers is unsustainable for your business long term.\u00a0 Drop the big insurers.\u00a0 Go self-funded.\u00a0 Utilize Direct Primary Care and value-based healthcare.<\/p>\n The easy way to fix healthcare from an employer standpoint is to look into efficient technology solutions that would boost your employees\u2019 morale and may save you money along the way.<\/p>\n We have to say they are both the right way, of course.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that dropping Aetna or Cigna takes guts that 99% of heads of HR would never do, no matter how much that \u2018status quo\u2019 decision could be to the detriment of the company, its employees and its shareholders.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sad reality of the healthcare system.\u00a0 The system is broken.<\/p>\n One such easy way to fix healthcare is WellAI\u2019s Digital Health Assistant.\u00a0 As we explained in our recent blog \u201cHow \u2018Health Alexa\u2019 saves you $$$ on group health & makes happier employees!<\/a>\u201d, WellAI is not just a cool new health app that helps you and your family 24\/7 and boosts morale of your employees, it saves you on health costs.<\/p>\n This brings us back full circle to the results of Marsh & McLennan survey and the BenefitsPro article<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cMany [employers] are executing a strategy to both enhance their employee benefits offerings while seeking to keep a lid on costs\u2026 Employers recognize the need to respond to the changing needs of their colleagues during the pandemic, while remaining competitive in the marketplace.\u201d\u00a0 We believe such efficient, affordable and at the same time ground breaking technology like WellAI answers these pressing employer needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n Going back to the results of the analysis of employer health cost savings conducted by the WellAI research team, all in all, depending on employees\u2019 demographics of a particular company, number of people with chronic diseases, participation rate, and the type of insurance plan, among many other factors, the WellAI Health Cost Savings Calculator predicts 34% to 45% savings in an employer health costs<\/strong>, on average.\u00a0 These savings are sourced from 5 factors:<\/p>\n As a reminder, the basic version of WellAI<\/a> app is now available for free on your smartphone.\u00a0 Please use the following links to schedule a 1-on-1 demo<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Please follow WellAI<\/a> on LinkedIn<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, Telegram<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> for news and updates!<\/p>\n Note: Terms ‘Health Alexa’ and ‘Alexa for health’ have been used for illustrative purposes only.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As companies are getting close to the end of their open enrollment period, they are thinking at least about two things:<\/p>\n 2020 has been unbelievably tough on my employees. How do I boost their morale?\u00a0 How do I make my employees happy?The Right Way to Fix Healthcare.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Easy Way to Fix Healthcare.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\n2020 has been tough for my company financially. How do I make my employees happy without breaking a buck?\u00a0 Is there still a way to squeeze some savings out of health costs?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[129,177],"tags":[132,133,11],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/A-Holiday-Gift-to-Your-Employees-That-Wont-Bankrupt-You-min-e1606833931951.png?fit=610%2C398&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540,"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellai.health\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}