When many business owners look at how much they spend on benefits, the costs seem so astronomical that creating significant savings can seem impossible. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimated last year that employers would spend an average of $14,800 per employee in 2019, and given how healthcare costs have steadily risen over recent years, this number isn't likely to decrease any time soon.

A great advisor can help you find savings throughout your benefits plan, and even changes that seem small on the surface can lead to thousands of dollars in savings, opportunities for growth within your business and even increased employee satisfaction. Recently, one of my clients experienced this for themselves when they switched to a self-funding plan and saved big on just one employee's prescription.

A $44,000 decision

The high cost of prescription drugs is no secret. We targeted this as we examined how to help our aforementioned client save on their benefits plan, and we were able to source one arthritis medication (Humira) for one of their employees. This drug retails for $60,000, but we were able to reduce the cost to the employer to just $16,000, saving them $44,000 or nearly 75 percent of the original cost.