Looking for a way to support your employees and meet your company goals? Companies are facing rising costs in every sector, and healthcare plans are no exception. Many are turning to High Deductible Healthcare Plans (HDHPs) to help deal with looming benefits bills, but it can be hard to get employees to switch over to these plans. Worse, employees can feel abandoned and disgruntled when employers ask them to take on more healthcare costs.
But HDHPs can work for everyone, when they’re presented correctly. When served up on a platter along with a selection of voluntary benefits which employees can choose from, many companies are finding it’s the perfect combination of salt and sweet. Or, to put it in non-culinary terms: everyone wins.
Managing Financial Risk for Employees
Every employee has a different threshold of acceptable risk, but it’s generally true that American worker budgets are lacking in the rainy-day department. Just a few hundred dollars of unexpected expense can cause serious financial distress for many, and an emergency room visit or sudden hospitalization can jeopardize even a seemingly secure household.
Placed against the potential for crippling medical bills, then, the high deductibles and out-of-pocket bills of HDHPs can feel incredibly daunting to many employees.
This is where your range of voluntary benefits can step in to provide peace of mind. For a relatively low paycheck deduction, employees can guard against those potential costs with critical care coverage, cancer coverage, accident coverage, and a suite of other options — all depending on their risk thresholds, medical history, expectation of healthcare use, etc. (A decision support tool comes in handy for helping them decide on the plans to use.)
Education and Decision Support
But you can’t just hand your employees a list of options and expect them to see the possibilities for themselves. You’ll need a dedicated communication campaign to share the potential scenarios and out-of-pocket costs which voluntary benefits could assist with.
You’ll also want to be very honest about situations where voluntary benefits won’t cover their bills — it won’t pay to be coy when you’re asking employees to take on a greater responsibility for healthcare bills. Talk with your broker or carriers about exceptions and be sure you’re sharing the most current information.
Voluntary Benefits Matter to Employees
Voluntary benefits are a win for everyone: a survey found 87% of employees in companies offering benefits feel they matter to their employees because of those benefits. Offering voluntary benefits can fit into a larger plan to build employee engagement and loyalty to your company. They can also help with recruitment, as the same survey found 62% of employees under fifty years of age wouldn’t consider a job that didn’t offer voluntary benefits. Young employees enjoy the flexibility and customization of voluntary benefits.
Plus, voluntary benefits come in many sizes beyond additional healthcare coverage. Click here to discover the voluntary benefits employees will be looking for in 2021.
Voluntary benefits present an opportunity for you to change the conversation around high deductibles and changing healthcare costs. By helping employees discover the plans that work for their finances, lifestyle, and stage of life, you can help both employees and your company achieve their budgetary goals.