ADVICE FROM THE 100 BEST
Caring for your health plan
Out of all the benefits besides cash with which companies can
attract and keep employees, none is more appreciated than
health coverage. But at a time when health care costs are
rising faster than inflation, offering a high-quality plan is
easier said than done.
To find out how this year’s 100 Best companies meet this
challenge, we identified 10 that were rated particularly high
by their employees for health benefits, and polled company
representatives on what they were doing right.
Many noted that they are not really controlling costs; they
are paying more than in years past. Yet they remain committed
to their employees’ health and well-being, convinced that
it translates directly into the success of their business.
“There have been tough choices,” says Doreen
Barnhouse, operations VP at The Partners Group (Small Company
No. 20, Portland), “but they have come in the form of
understanding the value of our employees and having the company
shoulder the majority of the pain. Keeping a quality employee
over a longer period of time is less expensive than paying more
in health insurance.”
How to get more for less
• Involve employees:
Most of the companies stressed the value of employee
participation when choosing health plan carriers, options and
other de-tails. Not only does this help tailor the plan to
employees’ health care preferences, it makes them more
aware of the costs and limits among the available choices.
Employees can help decide whether the rising cost of premium
health care — potentially impacting profit sharing and
overall success of the business — is worth it. When
Becker Capital Management (Small Company No. 35, Portland) was
shopping for a provider, CEO Janeen McAninch says, “We
looked at the geographical locations of hospitals and clinics
and asked our employees where they would likely go for major
medical care.”
• Consider using the
same broker/carrier for all policies: If the broker
gives a discount for it, bundle your health care, life,
property and casualty, and workers’ compensation
policies.
• Create an
employer-sponsored self-insured health plan: If your
company has a large number of employees and is willing to
expose itself to the risks, normally assumed by an insurance
company, of paying claims directly, it can avoid paying the
profit margin built into insurance premiums. “This is how
we can monitor our claims and keep our plan lean,” says
Tana Mallory, HR manager for WRG Design (Large Company No. 19,
Portland). “We make the decisions with our plan structure
and coverage options, so we are able to reap the rewards on
good years where claims were low.” Self-insured companies
usually contract with a third-party administrator to administer
health benefits to employees. Another self-insured company,
Walsh Construction (Large Company No. 7, Portland) saw savings
after contracting with Clackamas-based Innovative Care
Management, which specializes in case management for employees
with complex or chronic medical conditions. “Over the
last three quarters that we have utilized their
services,” says HR manager Cristen Kolberg, “our
return on investment has been $4.99 to every $1
spent.”
• Join a professional
employer organization (PEO): If you find that your
insurance broker/carrier charges a higher premium for your
relatively small workforce, you can get into a larger risk pool
through a PEO and often obtain better rates. Bev Davis, COO of
Jordan Schrader (Small Company No. 15, Lake Oswego) has
outsourced some of the law firm’s HR and most of its
benefits administration to a PEO, Xenium Resources, resulting
in good benefits at a lower price than she says she could find
on the open market.
• Set out-of-pocket
maximums: This can be used to give employees, especially
those with families, an added a sense of security even though
they have to foot some of the bill. At Walsh Construction the
maximum an employee can pay in a year is $1,000, with a $200
deductible. VTM (Small Company No. 21, Portland) doesn’t
have a maximum but offers a similar, novel solution. Vice
president Bruce Murray says that last year co-pays and
deductibles went up, but he adds, “We made one giant leap
because we promised our employees ‘financial
stability.’” In response to the greater
out-of-pocket expenses, the company will now reimburse
employees when they feel their financial stability is
threatened by medical expenses.
• Shop carriers and
plans each year: “I consider quotes from at least
three health insurance providers each year,” says Vie
Radek, controller at Palo Alto Software (Small Company No. 25,
Eugene), “and try to pick the one that gives us the best
benefits for the money.”
• Institute a wellness
plan: Insurance companies may give you a discount for
it. Verné Boerner, administrative officer for Northwest
Portland Area Indian Health Board (Small Company No. 40,
Portland), credits a tobacco cessation policy and
company-sponsored membership at 24-Hour Fitness with helping to
negotiate lower insurance rates. PREM Group’s (Small
Company No. 12, Portland) Rhonda Zender says her company is
arranging for a dietitian to speak to employees, as well as for
yoga and kickboxing classes.
• Health savings
accounts (HSAs): Surprisingly, only two out the 10
companies who we polled mentioned an HSA, which is intended to
limit employees’ health care spending by granting them a
set amount of funds with which to budget their total care. PREM
Group’s Zender reported having some success with an HSA,
but Radek of Palo Alto Software says, “I am very
frustrated by the way insurance providers have set up HSA
accounts — they make them very unattractive and
have really defeated the whole concept.”
• Raise co-pays and
deductibles: Our 100 Best companies say increasing
employee out-of-pocket costs is preferable to making them pay
more of the premium or eliminating coverage. Walsh Construction
raised co-pays on name brand drugs but lowered them on generic
alternatives, producing a noticeable savings to their
self-insured plan.
— Brandon Sawyer
100 BEST RESULTS
Not surprisingly, in our 100 Best employee survey this year
health plan-related issues were ranked high in importance:
fifth, sixth and eighth out of 50. However, they dropped
about 10 ranks in satisfaction, indicating that most of the
29,000 Oregon employees who participated are not wholly
satisfied with their employer’s health care coverage.
|
|
Rank out of 50
|
|
100 Best employee survey health care
statements
|
Importance
|
Satisfaction
|
|
Quality of health plan for employees and families
|
5
|
14
|
|
Cost of health insurance for employees and families
|
6
|
23
|
|
Health insurance plan options (dental, alt. care, vision,
etc.)
|
8
|
15
|
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