Not all health plans are the same, and many employers offer their employees several choices.
Employees are asked to make those decisions during an open enrollment period, and employers have a responsibility to make sure that their workers have all the information they need to make the choice that is right for them.
“Education is the key,” says Don Whitford, vice president of Sales and Client Services for Priority Health. “You need to make sure your people understand the choices available to them.”
Smart Business spoke with Whitford about how employers can prepare their employees for open enrollment and the decisions that they will be asked to make.
What is the first thing employers should consider before presenting their employees with benefits options at open enrollment?
One of the critical things the purchaser of a plan needs to know is how to evaluate the current plan. Review all options available to you and make sure your plan fits your health care objectives and goals.
The upward pressure on employers regarding health care costs continues to be there.
Consider where you want to take health care in the future. Are you partnering with the right health care carrier to help control long-term per-capita health care costs? What kind of disease management programs does it have in place to treat people early on, before the long-term, expensive health care costs down the road?
To really dig into the options available to you, have either the carrier representative or your agent clearly explain how they will help you manage your long-term costs.
Once benefits are determined, how does the open enrollment process work?
Employers can do different variations, but the basic process is simply determining what the benefits will be for the upcoming year. Then, the employer decides what level of employee premium contribution it will require. That ties back to your goals and strategies, what you’re trying to accomplish.
Then you need a heavy dose of active communication with your employees. Here are your plan choices, and if the plan choice is the same as last year, tell them. If it is different, they need to know that. And if it is different, point out those differences.
This is driven by the size of the employer, but most employers will hold open enrollment meetings. At these meetings, the employer’s human resources team will answer questions. Employers can also engage their carriers or agents to explain the choices to employees. When changing benefits, most employers go with the latter option and work with the carrier to create communications to make sure people fully understand their choices and the time frame to make those choices. If you are just continuing benefits, you may approach it with a lower level of communication. But with either option, it is important to communicate.
