Is A Group Health Plan The Best Option

For a growing number of employees—especially younger ones—benefits and perks like a group health plan are more attractive when choosing a job than higher pay. And while most businesses want to offer their employees as many benefits and perks as they can, doing so is becoming increasingly difficult.

Thanks to increasing costs, a growing number of businesses are getting priced out of offering much in the way of benefits – especially costly ones like a group health plan. Fortunately, there are alternatives available that can save employers money while providing a wider range of high-quality health coverage options to employees.

Well aware of the value employees place on health care, employers are desperately looking for ways to continue to provide high-quality health care benefits to their employees. Unfortunately, the steadily increasing costs of health insurance premiums are straining the ability of businesses to offer these benefits. In 2019, the average employer-sponsored health insurance annual premiums for individual coverage was $7,188 and a whopping $20,576 for family coverage. With no end in sight, these premiums continue to increase faster than wages and inflation. To further darken the outlook, employer contributions to private health insurance premiums are projected to increase from $619 billion in 2020 to a dizzying $902 billion in 2028.

Disappointingly, the list of solutions presented by the vast majority of insurance brokers at annual renewal time tends to be incredibly short and simplistic, falling into three cookie-cutter options—cut benefits, increase employee contributions, or both. Problem is, these aren’t fixes, they’re more like band-aids and serve nothing more than delaying the inevitable while putting more pressure on employees. If a group health plan isn’t working, the best solution probably isn’t another version of the same thing.

Benefits can only be stripped down for so long until there’s nothing left to cut. Employees can only be asked to contribute so much until the plan becomes more of a burden on them than an actual benefit. Eventually, when businesses go down these paths long enough, it’s either accept each annual increase for a group health plan no one likes or terminate it altogether.

Either way, no one is happy.

With health care benefits such a desirable component of compensation for employees, it’s critical that businesses (yes, even small businesses!) look beyond the traditional group health plan at alternative health coverage options to be able to continue to attract and retain the best employees they can.

An innovative alternative to the traditional group health plan

When an employer chooses a group health plan, chances are, it’s not going to work for every employee. The hope is to provide something that works for most folks. The coverage a healthy 25-year-old single employee is looking for is going to be different than one who is 50 years old and married with kids. So, it’s understandable that when it comes to choice, employees crave it. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to give them that choice with a single group health plan.

In January 2020, the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) became available for employers. This game-changer allows employers to reimburse employees tax-free for individual health insurance. An ICHRA shatters the one-size-fits-all approach to group plans and gives employers unparalleled ability to control costs while giving employees considerably more health coverage options to choose from. It also removes the burden of annual renewals and the headache of managing a group health plan.

For employers who are looking to give their employees the widest range of health coverage options, a group health plan may not be the answer. Adding medical cost-sharing plans alongside individual health insurance options, however, can be a powerful solution. Medical cost sharing is ideal for those employees who take ownership of their health, want the freedom to choose their own doctor (who likes networks?), and believe in the idea of community and helping others when it comes to health care expenses. For those who choose this alternative health coverage option, it’s typical to see monthly cost savings of 30-50%. Combining medical cost-sharing with a health access membership makes the coverage even more comprehensive.

The ability to choose.

In the current healthcare landscape, consumers are shielded from the actual costs of their care. This has resulted in skyrocketing costs, expanding limits to services, and less choice overall. But we seem to have forgotten that healthcare is just like any other industry, and is (or should be) sensitive to consumer pressure. When you provide a solution to employees that puts them back in control of their plan, a number of things begin to happen. Consumer pressure works to improve innovation and quality, expand choices, and lower healthcare prices. As more and more employers do this, a growing amount of pressure will be put on the healthcare industry, ultimately forcing industry-wide change.

By combining groundbreaking tools and options such as ICHRA and medical cost-sharing with employee assistance programs and traditional insurance, forward-thinking, innovative employers—big and small—are now able to provide employees with more options than ever before. At the same time, these cutting-edge solutions are allowing businesses to regain much-needed control of their budgets. If you’ve been told that there are limited options available for your business, it’s definitely time to look again. Who knows, you just might be able to give your employees more choices, gain more control over your budget, and build a stronger business.