February 22, 2012
| Get Your Employees Involved in Cutting Health Care Costs |
Many companies deal with rising health care costs by passing more of the financial burden to their workers. Health reimbursement accounts (HRAs) can set your company apart by providing cost-effective, quality benefits at a lower cost to your employees-a powerful incentive in today's economy.
An HRA program gets your employers involved in the financial decisions made when accessing health benefits, and gives them incentives to keep costs low. This "Consumer-Directed Health Plan" discourages the mindset that health benefits are "other people's money" that can be spent at will. The result is that employees help you cut costs by making sure they save money themselves.
Your company has complete flexibility to design the benefits of the HRA plan in any way you choose. You can use this creative freedom to do what today's insurance companies can't or won't do: offer higher levels of benefits to employees who participate in wellness activites, and dramaticallly decrease the expenses created by employees who would others make unhealthy lifestyle choices.
In many cases, companies are able to offer superior benefits at a far lower cost. These savings are often substantial enough to alow companies to fully fund the HRA plan and still have money left over.
| Take Control of Claims Information Your Insurance Provider Doesn't Want You to Know |
In addition to potentially substantial savings, your company's HRA plan will give you access to detailed information about claims and payments-something fully-insured carriers don't provide. This information puts you in a far stronger negotiating position when renewal costs are unreasonable or unjustified by the health of your plan's members.
This utilization data can also help you make cost-savings adjustments in the future, helping you influence employee behavior to provide the greatest savings on the benefits they need.
For more information on Flexible Spending Accounts, contact your representative or visit www.my-benovation.com
