With the rising cost of health insurance small businesses have really felt the strain on their budget. Many are being to forced to significantly reduce employee benefits or drop coverage all together.
But wait! There is another strategy: a Consumer Driven Benefit Plan.
The basic premise is to use high deductible health insurance, and then fill in the gaps using supplemental coverage. Not only does this allow the worker to customize their own, unique benefits package, but it also keeps coverage at an optimum level.
There are two important elements to successfully implement a consumer driven benefits plan:
- A voluntary benefits carrier that has guarantee-issue plans designed specifically for consumer driven health plans with competitive rates.
- Benefits communication using trained and certified benefits communicators to educate the employees on how to properly reduce their out of pocket financial risk. Employees want to be educated, not “sold”.
Charlie Vermilyea is the owner and founder of Northwest Insurance Specialists. Charlie has over 10 years in the employee benefits field, and specializes in building employee benefit plans that are both affordable and cost effective. For a free analysis of your health plan call (541) 746-7379.
