I read a great newsletter this week that made a point worth repeating.
It said employers are sitting around waiting for their broker, their benefit consultant, or a politician to fix their healthcare spend. How is that working for you?
Most of the conversation about employer healthcare costs focuses on the big stuff. The carrier contract. The PBM. The ASO structure. And those things matter enormously for large employers.
But there’s a lever most employers never even touch, regardless of how their medical plan is structured.
When employees have somewhere else to turn for everyday healthcare needs, telehealth, urgent care-level access, health care and basic prescriptions, they stop defaulting to the ER or the urgent care clinic billed through your major medical plan. That’s not a wellness app trick. That’s reducing the actual utilization that drives your claims.
Voluntary benefits, the kind employees pay for themselves or share minimal cost on, can do that. Done right, they give your people real healthcare access and take pressure off the plan you’re funding.
The employer doesn’t pay much. Sometimes nothing.
But the math on reduced claims? That one works.
You don’t have to overhaul your entire benefits ecosystem to start moving the needle. Sometimes the lever that’s easiest to pull is the one everyone’s ignoring. If you’re an employer, a CFO, or an HR leader who’s tired of signing the renewal and hoping for a different result, let’s talk. You will find me on LinkedIn and/or at residentbusinesssolutions.com.
