Employee benefits healthcare, is it costing you too much?

Employers are definitely feeling the strain of rising healthcare costs.But what to do about the increase in prices has yet to be decided.Employee benefits healthcare, is it costing you too much?Can your business afford to keep its employees happy by providing employee healthcare plans?Some businesses say yes, and others say no.

There have been numerous studies done on what employers should do about health care.On the one hand, eliminating health care plans for employees will eventually create problems of its own, like employee absenteeism and chronic ailments.However, with the outrageous costs is it worth it?Many believe that the key to reducing employee healthcare costs is to improve the quality of the care.Poor quality of healthcare will almost always cost an employer more money than it will to eliminate healthcare benefits all together.

Even if employee based healthcare plans are costing employers a lot of money, it's almost impossible to get rid of them.Either way, the business ends up suffering in terms of either sick employees or early retirements of skilled contributing workers.In fact it has been estimated the employers spend about 200 to 300 percent more on indirect costs of poor health from employees, than they do on health benefits they provide employees with.And these costs only increase with chronic conditions such as heart disease and other respiratory problems.Even with the elimination of health insurance, the costs still remain.

So what is the best way for employers to address the health benefits issue?So many employers have gone to vendors and health plan providers to try and bargain prices down, but still to no avail the prices continue to rise.It might be more beneficial for employers to think of employee benefits in terms of value, and not just in terms of cost.Here are some things to think about when considering employee healthcare benefits and whether or not they are costing you too much money:

1. In order to reduce healthcare costs you must improve the quality of healthcare.This includes such things as better diagnoses, timely treatments, and getting right to the nitty gritty with fewer complications.This also includes taking a much more proactive approach to wellness programs, screenings, and trying to better manage chronic conditions.


2. Employers can improve on the structure of healthcare delivery, thus improving its overall quality.This would mean that the emphasis would shift from cost reduction to quality and value.This would mean that employers should expect health plans to direct its patients to excellent providers, not just the cheapest ones.


3. Today providers are paid by the visit, by specialty, and by procedure through DRGs that are often times too narrow to grasp the necessary care.Employers can accelerate change in reimbursement to link financial success to clinical success.

Yes it may be true that employee healthcare benefits are costing you as an employer more money than you like, but eliminate it all together is going to cost you just as much, or even more money that healthcare would probably cost.With rising costs it may be tempting to ignore health benefits for your employees, but truly the best way to cut your costs is to try and get quality healthcare so employees get the right care the first time around; not after going back to the doctor over and over again.