How COVID Will Impact Employer Healthcare Costs and What You Can Do About It

The initial economic and cultural blow from COVID-19 has come and gone. Most states will continue to see new cases of the disease for the foreseeable future, but slowly the economy is reopening and people are returning to their regular day-to-day lives (to the extent that this is possible given the “new normal” in which we are living).

Many employers are breathing a sigh of relief as their revenue starts to increase as a result of the economy reopening. However, employers need to be fully aware of the significant challenges, especially healthcare related, that lie ahead of them in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The best thing that an employer can do to manage these challenges is to work with a proactive benefits broker that can help them manage the impact of changing healthcare costs. In this post, we’ll discuss the following advantages of working with an innovative, hands-on benefits broker:

• A proactive benefits brokers provides a unique, expert opinion that helps employers ensure they don’t miss out on cost-saving opportunities
• A good benefits broker helps employers adapt to changing regulations and healthcare industry trends
• A hands-on benefits broker takes the administrative burden off the employer, so they can focus on what they do best

What Are You Missing?

Making uninformed healthcare decisions is a surefire way for a business to increase its healthcare costs. Unfortunately, decisions like this are all too common even in the absence of a global pandemic. Now that we are facing what will be the worst healthcare crisis in most of our lifetimes, many employers will be tempted to make ineffective and impulsive decisions. When faced with uncertainty about the future, it is human nature to jump to conclusions. These decisions can lead employees to lower-quality or ineffective healthcare providers, which increases their healthcare costs and ultimately makes providing coverage more expensive for the employer.

Before you try make any significant decisions about the healthcare options you will offer to your employees in the wake of COVID-19, you should strongly consider consulting with modern, hands-on benefits broker. The right benefits broker can help you view these decisions from new and unique perspectives, especially brokers who specialize in working with businesses of your side. A broker can tell you what other companies have tried and give you guidance about what strategies have proven to be successful. Most importantly, as you share your thought process with a proactive benefits broker, you can trust them to let you know what you are missing.

For example, many employers are currently considering expanding the telemedicine options that are provided to their employees. Before you sign any contracts with insurance companies or healthcare providers related to telemedicine, ask your benefits broker what pitfalls you should avoid and what qualities you should look for in a telemedicine provider. Odds are very high that an effective benefits broker has helped dozens of companies save costs by making wise telemedicine decisions, the experience of which will help them give you expert advice that you would not have received had you tried to make the decision on your own or with only lackluster support from your existing broker.

A proactive, data-driven benefits broker can also help you reduce costs by recommending proactive steps to manage the number of people on your healthcare plan. A disturbing number of employers unknowingly spend millions of dollars providing healthcare for dependents that do not meet the eligibility requirements for their healthcare plan. A good benefits broker can help you implement strategies to regularly audit employees and dependents on your healthcare plan, which can potentially save you tens of thousands of dollars in annual medical premiums. Now more than ever, you cannot afford to let unqualified dependents fuel the fire behind your rising healthcare costs.

What’s Beyond the COVID Horizon?

This is the question that deeply concerns many employers. What can we expect healthcare costs to look like in six months? One year? Five years? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you make strategic decisions now that will have positive financial impacts for your company in the future.

Of course, nobody can predict the future. However, proactive benefits brokers are diligently analyzing industry trends to make the best possible predictions about what the future might hold for your healthcare costs. Consider the following examples of trends that the experts at Advantage are seeing:

• COVID-19 has understandably caused fear among many people who rely on prescription medication. Due to the discomfort of leaving home during the pandemic, many people who typically maintain at least a 30-day supply of their medications failed to refill their prescriptions in time. Due to many people stopping their maintenance medications, more serious long-term complications will arise that will lead to an increase in healthcare costs.
• Many people have also chosen to delay routine procedures and preventative care. Once the COVID-19 restrictions are fully lifted, there will be a flood of people trying to access that care. This might lead to a short-term reduction in healthcare costs for your employees because they didn’t get any preventative care over the last few months, but the long-term consequences of this trend will almost certainly lead to an increase in costs.
• The FFCRA (Families First Coronavirus Response Act) was the first major piece of federal legislation related to employee leave and the coronavirus. However, it almost certainly will not be the last.

These are just a few examples of the many industry trends that can help you make strategic decisions about the future. Working with a hands-on benefits broker can help you stay up to date on these trends, which will help you ensure that you have all the information you need to make smart decisions that will ultimately keep your healthcare costs down.

Engage With a Proactive Benefits Broker Who Will Have Your Back

Many of the things we have said in this article can understandably be very frightening for employers. For a variety of reasons, healthcare costs are bound to increase over the next few years. As an employer, you will need to make difficult decisions to manage the impact of changing healthcare costs.

At the same time, you can’t forget about the other tough challenges your business is facing. You may need to rethink your talent management, recruitment strategies, and office culture as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Working with a strong benefits broker can help you dedicate more of your time and effort to what you do best – growing your business! Let a proactive benefits broker take some weight off your shoulders by providing expert advice and services related to your healthcare and other benefits you offer to your employees.

Key Takeaways

The COVID-19 pandemic will almost certainly increase healthcare costs for most employers. Moving forward, there will be much uncertainty about what decisions can best manage these cost increases. Rather than trying to make uninformed and ineffective decisions on these important topics, you should consult with a proactive benefits broker. Remember, a good benefits broker can help you in the following ways:

• A strong benefits broker will have experience working with hundreds of employers just like you. They can use that experience to provide you with unique and expert advice that you would not be able to find elsewhere.
• A proactive benefits broker stays up to date on industry trends and they can help you best prepare for the future.
• A good benefits broker will have your back. By having them help you with hard decisions about healthcare costs, you will have more time to focus your efforts on what you do best – growing your business!