Generic Health Plan Finders Are Costing You Money

Take care of your employees’ specific needs with a customizable health and benefits finder.

Hi, the Internet of Things called. It wants your generic health plan comparison tool gone. In its place, technology has emerged to offer your employees a sparkly new, customizable health plan finder. Wait, you might be thinking. Are they telling me that my employees don’t want the side-by-side health plan choice comparison sheet we’ve been giving out for the last 15 years?

That’s exactly what we’re telling you. It’s time for employers to wise up to the wants and needs of an on-demand workforce. Those generic health insurance comparison sheets focus on two health plan elements: premium and deductible. But that’s simply not enough information, or even the right information, to use when choosing a health plan. In fact, 80% of health plan decision makers over-insure by $600 per person per year. That’s right: generic health plan finders are costing you money.

EMPLOYEES CONTINUE TO DEMAND SELF-SERVICE BENEFITS

So, no one has complained, yet, and you aren’t sure why this is a problem? Look at the healthcare market. Value-based care incentives mean that patients are seeing more technology solutions focused on providing them a customized experience. Consumers are driving the need for user-focused experiences, including the way that health plans and benefits are selected. Coined as self-service technology, it’s expected that an employer will offer tools that help employees make decisions (called decision support tools).

“When it comes to choosing health plans, consumers’ diverse information needs are striking,” says PBGH. The unique drivers that your employee has in mind when making a health insurance decision means that there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Making things even more difficult is the rising cost of healthcare, costs that they likely struggle to predict.

Research has shown that meaningful-choice in medical insurance options serves as an “anchor point to decide whether [employees] need more or less protection.” Meaningful-choice means that a decision support tool is giving a suggestion based on personalized data from the employee.

DO MORE CHOICES EQUAL MORE PROBLEMS? NOT WITH DAIZY.

Technology is obviously a huge help to employers that want to support their employees in benefits selection. But there are factors that a Benefits Director will weigh heavily, says Shan Fowler, Director of Marketplaces. “Really it comes down to two primary things… cost and complexity. Plans cost a lot of money, it’s around 16-17% of GDP and rising. Adding to that, there’s a great level of complexity to plans.”

Fowler indicates that in a consumer-centric market, a shared responsibility exists between employers and employees. Reducing healthcare and insurance costs are in everyone’s best interest, but making good decisions requires excellent tools.

Daizy is a decision-support tool that helps employees make a better choice in health insurance. In 5 minutes and with 10 simple questions, your employees can see a comparative analysis of options.

Instead of looking only at premium and deductible costs, with Daizy employees will see suggestions that utilize predictive modeling. This includes estimating how often an employee may go to the doctor based on their medical history. The result is a clear, visual representation of out-of-pocket costs for each plan.

Assisting an employee with financial planning for medical costs is a shared responsibility, but also a shared benefit. The value-add is ongoing, because Daizy can be updated at each open enrollment period or life-changing event to reflect the best interests of your employees. Thanks to Daizy, employer-sponsored healthcare can kiss generic, side-by-side health plan spreadsheets goodbye!