Apple, Amazon, Google, Walmart, and Tesla are among the global brands that made significant changes in 2018 to start curbing corporate and employee healthcare costs for the company and employees. 2018 shaped up to be the year that many American businesses and families declared war on out of control healthcare costs by seeking out more affordable options. Those companies, employees, and families are now being rewarded by seeing thousands in savings already.
Health insurance and benefits are the second highest expenditure behind payroll for most American businesses. For individuals and families, healthcare is likely the fastest growing expense year over year, even as each dollar buys less care as benefits are being reduced! Has your company or family declared your tipping point on out of control healthcare costs? If not, now is the time and this article will provide a few simple starter ideas on where to begin in 2019!
Simple tips to save thousands on healthcare in 2019:
For Individuals and Families
There has been rapid growth in cost sharing plans whose premiums can be 60% less than traditional insurance. Many are familiar with faith-based cost sharing plans such as MediShare (Medishare.com) that have been providing a more cost-efficient alternative to Christian members for years. The key to cost sharing plans is that the plan is not regulated by the Department of Insurance and members pay significantly less in premiums. Members pay cash prices to doctors on the day of appointment and later seek reimbursement from the provider, and also have no guarantees that major claims will be reimbursed. There is a “leap of faith” factor involved.
For those who are not comfortable joining a faith-based cost sharing program, there has been rapid growth from individual providers like Sedera Health (Sedera.com) that allows non-faith-based organizations to create their own product. One of the more unique but rapidly growing groups that offer a program through Sedera is Fit Health (WeAreFitHealth.com). Fit Health simply asks that members commit themselves to living a healthy lifestyle and in return are included in a group that is offered significantly reduced premiums and share of costs.
You and your family can join a cost sharing plan on your own. Many corporations have begun offering a $200 monthly allocation toward an employee’s cost sharing plan as an alternative to traditional insurance as well.
For Employers
Employers are auditing every dollar they spend on healthcare to identify how to slow down the constant, excessive growth in healthcare spending year over year. The goal is to conduct a full review of all expenses related to providing healthcare benefits to employees. Account for every dollar and measure its impact.
While many employers rely on brokers or benefits advisors for this purpose, there is little incentive for your broker or advisor to do an honest review as their compensation is based on the amount your company spends. The fastest growing option nationally that is yielding immediate results is a not-for-profit effort named Health Rosetta (healthrosetta.org). It’s a full bumper-to-bumper review of every dollar your company spends on healthcare and provides tactics and alternatives to reduce spending as much as 50 percent.
Because Health-Rosetta is a non-profit and their results have been immediate, they have seen rapid growth as an alternative to relying on your traditional broker or benefits advisor for this type of audit.
For Individuals and Employers
There has been quite a bit of media attention given this year to companies dedicated to helping Americans eliminate medical debt. The two best-known organizations, both not-for-profits, solicit donations from corporations, events and individuals, and allocate those dollars to pay down outstanding healthcare costs. RIP Medical Debt (RIPMedicalDebt.org) has received a lot of national media attention after a church in Texas donated $100,000 to eliminate outstanding medical debt. Although RIP’s website states that they “cannot currently forgive the debt of targeted individuals,” a separate company known as HLTHE (HLTHE.com) does allow donations that go directly to individuals. The organization recently re-branded to HLTHE after helping individuals with medical costs for years under the brand Pink Firetrucks (pinkfiretrucks.org).
For example, if your company or event wanted to make a tax-deductible donation to HLTHE of $25,000, that donation could be allocated directly to your employees. Any employee who creates a wallet could then use those funds to pay down personal medical debt for themselves or family members.
For example, if a colleague at work is diagnosed with Cancer, your company could host an event or solicit tax-deductible donations from employees that are contributed directly into the HLTHE wallet of that individual who was diagnosed and turned into HLTHE cash. That individual is provided a debit card that can be used to pay down medical debt.
If your company or family has had enough of hyper-inflating healthcare costs, these simple tips will help you save thousands in 2019.
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