Can’t pass along more costs to workers? 2 alternatives
January 20, 2010 by Christian SchappelPosted in: Communication, Health care, In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Money, Pay and benefits
Many companies have reached the end of the line in terms of how much healthcare costs can be passed on to employees.
Instead of increasing employees’ share further, you may want to consider one of these two cost-cutting measures:
1. Reward health risk assessment participants
The most effective way to maximize participation in health risk assessments, with minimum resistance, is to offer incentives that reward healthy behavior.
Example: Reducing monthly premiums for employees who get tested and/or seek help to reduce risk factors like obesity or high blood pressure.
Warning: Health risk assessments can no longer include an employee’s family medical history if financial incentives are tied to their completion, according to new regs governing the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).
2. Target needless E.R. use
Some health plans offer toll-free, 24-hour nurse hotlines — and the nurses on call tend to be very effective at answering questions about the treatment of injuries, and whether a caller should go to the E.R.
Wider use of these hotlines can greatly reduce needless E.R. visits — and their related costs.
If your workers don’t have access to a nurse hotline, consider asking your vendor what it would take to set that service up. Even if it costs your company a little more now, it could save you big bucks in the long run.
Tags: gina, Health-risk assessments, healthcare costs, high blood pressure, Incentives, obesity
January 21st, 2010 at 4:05 pm
the small community our company is in has a hospital and clinic, we found that our employees were using the e.r. as a faster clinic/office visit service i.e. no appointsment and less waiting time. the e.r. cost was like 10 times the clinic/office costs (we were self ins.) so we implemented a $350.00 copay on all e.r. visits that did not require and over night stay. we watched our e.r. utilization drop by 2/3 of what it was, and the clinic/office calls increase by that amount, who says you can’t lead a horse to water and make it drink. good luck and GOD BLESS.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Ok, so in response to Bob. I now have a $200 ER co-pay, plus 20% additional services (i.e. x-rays, blood work, etc.) so when I had a bone pop out of my toe several weeks ago and was in miserable pain, I got to debate an enormous bill for my emergency service. Obviously, even though it did not require an overnight stay, it was an actual emergency. I was bleeding profusely and required 7 stitches in the toe, crutches and a temporary cast. The problem is now that it cost an arm, leg and toe to receive care, many will end up with worse problems because they will not be able to afford those steep co-pays. I get that people abuse the ER services, but now I get to decide how to pay this hefty bill, when 2 years ago it would have cost me $50. I am looking at it as another deduction from my salary. With the economy in disarray, why are companies making it that much harder to receive medical care. If I had decided to wait for an appointment, I would have ended up out of work for several weeks. Since I chose the proactive and expensive option, I am working and productive. There has to be a happy medium somewhere, this is not it.
The nurse hotline is very helpful, but it doesn’t work if the average employee is unaware of it. Awareness of these tools can be less costly to the employer than the savings of not sending a mailer or pamphlet.
January 28th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Perhaps a happy medium would be to charge a higher co-pay if the ER visit is not a true emergency rather than using the over-night stay as the criteria.
January 28th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Employers have to do something. I tried to educate people and make them better consumers but they still wanted to use the ER for kids on the weekends so they wouldn’t have to take Monday off etc. I guess you can blame your co-workers for abusing the system and leaving employers with little choice but to control their costs. If they don’t put higher co-pays in place they will increase premiums or deductible because they can’t keep footing the increasing costs that employees do have some control over.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:01 am
On one hand, part of the reason the cost of medical care has gone through the roof is the abuse of the ER for minor issues (i.e. flu symptoms, viruses, allergies, etc.). People use the ER as if it were a doctor’s office open around the clock.
On the other hand, when someone has a real emergency (such as Ben), they should not have to come up with the copay at the time of service. Our company offers a “High Deductible Health Plan” as one choice for health care. On this plan, the employee pays the first XXX dollars per year, then the insurance company covers the rest of the medical expenses for the remainder of the calendar year. Since this insurance costs so much less than our other choice (a PPO), the company contributes each month to the Health Savings Account that comes with the plan. Also due to the lower premium, there is no payroll deduction needed, so the employee can also contribute to their HSA, if they choose to do so. The HSA balance builds up and in a short time, you can have access to enough money to cover the deductible. Also, the servicing ER should be willing to bill for services, not collect at that time.
Another choice – kind of a halfway point is to use an urgent care facility, instead of an ER. They are usually open longer hours, and the cost is much less.