The Problem
A nonprofit was rolling out a new HDHP to help the company and employees save on healthcare costs, as U.S. healthcare costs have been on an upward trajectory for years. But there was a problem—the company’s previous plan, a PPO, was beloved by employees because it was 100% employer paid with deductibles of $100 and $300 across all tiers.
To help rein in healthcare costs, the company set out to encourage healthcare consumerism among its employees. Its long-term goal was to empower employees to more carefully consider their care and the costs associated with their benefits decisions. The company would continue to cover premiums for the HDHP plan and incentivize employees by contributing to their health savings accounts (HSA).
The company needed help pursuing a cultural shift among employees, from PPOs to HDHPs with HSAs. This required educating employees to drive adoption of the new plan as well as encourage consistent HSA savings so employees have the funds they need for healthcare expenses in the future. Erin Klein, Consultant with Marsh & McLennan Agency – NE (MMA), saw an opportunity to help.
“They really wanted employees to feel like the high-deductible plan was a positive plan because they were including HSA funding,” Klein explains. “They wanted a cultural shift to healthcare consumerism so they would understand what the true cost is of using healthcare.”
The Plan
MMA helped the company introduce ALEX’s benefits engagement platform to its employees the previous year. With the big change in store, MMA worked with the company to generate employee excitement about the new HDHP with HSA option using Sneak Peek videos in ALEX, which give employees teasers of their benefits before open enrollment.
The goal was to drive 15% to 50% adoption in the first year.
The Outcome
Thanks to ALEX, the company exceeded the projected scenarios for HDHP adoption. It landed at an impressive 66% adoption. For employees who used ALEX, 96% said they had a better understanding of their medical benefits.
According to Klein, the company would have experienced difficulties rolling out the new plan without ALEX and may have put it off to a later time. With ALEX, it not only rolled out the plan on time, it achieved the desired cultural shift.
“The level of support that ALEX provides, we would not be able to go through those detailed questions,” Klein said. “In terms of walking through all those very specific healthcare scenarios, I think that ALEX really can’t be matched.”
