Consider Switching to a Holistic Health Insurance Model

If your business has learned anything over the last few years, it’s the importance of being flexible and dynamic to weather any storm. Adopt a new service here. Drop a no-longer-effective process there. Do whatever it takes to meet the ever-changing demand and economic environment.

Part of developing a dynamic business model means incorporating a series of hybrid strategies for a variety of things. Work from home, for example, might make more sense for your employees and the company bottom line, even if only on a part-time basis.

Similarly, adopting a holistic approach to health insurance and benefits for your teams can be the most cost-effective and favorable among employees. Some experts are pointing to the rising cost and complexity of affordable healthcare and a growing need for a better way to contain those costs. Today, we’ll explore what a holistic health insurance model might look like for your business and offer insights to help you create a hybrid and more organic solution based on your employee needs and company budget.

Solving the COVID-19 Dilemma

The experts in a variety of circles are suggesting that COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere, despite the push for vaccinations and continued mitigation strategies. New strands of the virus may continue to surface in the years to come, making it tougher to completely eradicate altogether. With the prospect of the Coronavirus sticking around like the seasonal flu, employers need to be looking for ways to keep it from affecting staff, production, and the bottom line.

Health & Wellness Best Practices

As a company leader, you must ensure you have all the best strategies in place to promote a healthy workplace. That means finding ways to offer and incentivize health and wellness at the employee level. Consider exploring health insurance partners that recognize this growing need for work environment best practices with plan offerings. Regardless of your company policies for staff, you’ll want to adopt a health plan partnership that supports an ongoing health and wellness initiative.

COVID-19 Testing

If you plan to keep your business running, you’ll have to consider implementing a plan for COVID-19 testing. Whether it’s managing exposure risks or a need to identify negative-testing workers to return to the job, testing is just going to be a necessary part of business for a while. Look for ways to partner with coverage providers that understand this new testing need. Testing can be too costly to ignore when configuring your health insurance and benefits offering.

Vaccines & Treatments

Trying to navigate the mandates and implementing company policy regarding vaccines will be challenging. But politics aside, as a business, you’ll need to ensure you’re exploring health insurance partnerships that have clear and robust coverage options regarding COVID-19 related prevention and treatment. The reality is employees can still be at risk for contracting the virus, which in turn will result in time off work, quarantines, and recovery times.

A Focus on Preventive Care as a Holistic Health Insurance Approach

Another pillar of your holistic health insurance model should prioritize preventive care coverage. Today’s healthcare is pivoting to not only react with treatment measures but to also take proactive steps to prevent health issues. Encourage your teams to take control of their own health and wellness by providing health insurance coverage that promotes preventive care.

A Plan that Reprioritizes Cancer Screenings

Insurance Business America shared some of the CDC data regarding the National Breast and Cervical Cancer’s Early Detection Program. Breast cancer screenings plummeted by 87 percent by April 2020. Likewise, cervical cancer health screenings declined by 84 percent when compared to the stats from the previous five years of screenings. Missing these critical screenings and delaying preventive cancer screenings, in general, will result in missed diagnoses. This is expected to impact treatment costs at the carrier level as well as employer and employee burdens later. Consider working with a health insurance provider that prioritizes cancer screenings.

A Plan that Promotes Routine Physicals

The ACA Marketplace mandates that all plans on the platform have to provide a roster of “essential” benefits. These include preventive care basics, including those routine and annual physicals. As a business, consider incorporating a holistic health insurance model that provides for similar coverages. Even the seemingly healthiest individuals can benefit from a routine physical. Help staff stay healthy by staying ahead of high blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetic conditions.

A Plan that Provides Coverage for Telehealth

While you can establish policies for your business, you can’t mandate how employees choose to engage their healthcare providers. As part of your holistic health insurance approach, look for plans that offer flexibility for care provider engagement, including telehealth visits. Encourage your working teams to take advantage of the convenience of engaging online and work with insurance partners that offer the same encouragement.

The Cost Component

One of the most significant company benefits of adopting a holistic approach to health insurance is the cost component. Traditional group health insurance plans can be costly and not offer the provisions today’s employees need or can afford. Exploring new and more cost-effective ways to meet employee health and company budget needs will provide more bang for the buck and allow employers to control the rising costs of healthcare.

The Solution to Employee Cost Burdens

Costs of health insurance are heavy to the company. But the individual cost burdens of health insurance and healthcare are skyrocketing, too. As an employer, you can take these factors into consideration when developing a benefits model. Look for options that offer reduced costs at the employee opt-in level and promote a host of value-added coverages. If you can make health and wellness more affordable to your teams, they’ll be more apt to leverage those benefits ongoing.

Managing the Company’s Financial Risks

Look at the company’s risks from a long-term perspective, not just an acute reflection of today’s budgets. Identify health insurance options that provide robust coverage for long-term health. In the end, the healthier your employees are, the more productive they will be at work.

The ICHRA Model

More and more companies today are tapping into the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement as the “Goldilocks” benefits offering. Employers can control and manage the reimbursement platform based on available budgets. Employees can take control of what health insurance plan meets their needs, as well. And the flexibility of the ICHRA model means different employee types can participate, so everyone in your workforce can enjoy health and wellness benefits options.

If you need help exploring the ICHRA or a more holistic health insurance model, let W3LL help!