Overcoming the ‘no trade-offs’ myth

Spend any amount of time working in and around the insurance brokerage world, and one message comes through loud and clear: our HR leader-clients have a tough job. No other company benefit comes under more scrutiny both from the C-Suite and the rank and file of employees, spouses, partners and dependents, than health coverage. Skyrocketing costs make even a mid-single digit annual increase worthy of celebration, while baffling and opaque billing practices are considered normal. And there is nothing like a snafu in plan administration to set off emotional complaints to HR about something as important as health care.

Given these and myriad other challenges, it is not all that surprising that some “conventional wisdom” has permeated the upper tiers of HR leadership that can be politely described as unhelpful. One thing we hear time and again is that employees will never sacrifice any type of unfettered access to all health care and a phone book size directory to achieve significant cost savings. I have long said that this common belief is actually a myth, and an especially damaging one in that it can really derail disruption and innovation when it comes to addressing health care affordability for the average U.S. worker.

I am happy to report that the recent Centivo Healthcare and Financial Sacrifices Survey, 2021 has put some hard numbers around busting this myth wide open. Here is what survey respondents said, all of whom have had employer-sponsored health insurance for at least the past two years:

• Fully 73% polled say they are willing to trade how they access care for savings of 10% to 30% on their annual health care costs.
• About half (47%) say they would accept requirements that they select a primary care provider (PCP) from a list and 50% say that they would accept getting a referral from their PCP before seeing a specialist.
• And 30% would be willing to change primary care doctors; that number is likely to grow, considering 33% of millennials don’t even have a family doctor.
• Almost 3 in 10 (28%) would give up seeing one or more specialist they currently see.

While these findings are compelling and should help empower real change, we also know that overcoming the ‘no trade-offs’ myth will take more than mere percentages from a survey report. And that’s where we in the brokerage and health plan community can really help HR help their people. One of the most effective ways I have seen is to communicate the potential savings with vivid, real world dollar amount scenarios.

So, let’s say your client’s company has a traditional PPO and, by switching to a health plan that features some trade offs like those in the list above, an employee could save $400 a month. That’s $4,800 for the year, more than the average monthly car payment. So, switching to the new plan is like getting a new car every year for free. That amount of money could also fund a nice, relaxing vacation. That amount of money could also get rid of high-interest credit card debt that hangs over so many. In other words, explain the value of the ‘trade off’ health plan in ways that are very tangible and impactful for employees and their everyday lives.

Anything new, especially in the realm of health benefits, brings with it significant risk to HR leaders who may just find it easier to stick with the status quo. But we have seen this type of communication work very effectively in encouraging enrollment in what is a ‘new’ type of health plan for our clients.