> I'm not sure many people that work at large companies realize that their employer knows every diagnosis, procedure, and prescription you've ever picked up, and actively trying to incentivize you to use as little healthcare as possible.
I work for such a company, and it's great. I pay about $30 per month for a plan with a tiny deductible ($2,500), and they offer great wellness perks like weekly classes (yoga, kick-boxing) in-office, partner with a local CSA that does a bi-weekly produce truck out in the parking lot. They do encourage folks to get yearly wellness screenings, and basic dental cleanings by increasing your plan by about $2 per week if you don't.
This is a single, no dependents rate. I believe the comprehensive plan, with families runs about $70 per month.
As it were, the plan is employer funded but we have some type of partnership with a major provider for administration so the employer itself isn't hiring actuaries / specialists / consultants. Perhaps your personal experiences differ here?
I don’t understand your comment. If the company is large it is likely self-funded, so it is taking on the risk, whether they are doing it in house or hiring a benefits consultant to do it for them.
I didn’t say anything about the quality of a self-funded plan, simply just pointing out that a self-funded plans means your relationship with your company is not merely just a worker but you morph into this insurance risk that they now have to actively manage. I am pointing out how strange it is to ask a company to have to do that, which is unlike any other country in the world.
> I don’t understand your comment. If the company is large it is likely self-funded, so it is taking on the risk, whether they are doing it in house or hiring a benefits consultant to do it for them.
Because they partner with a larger provider for the doctor / hospital / pharmacy networks and specialist support. This is a very common pattern insofar as I'm aware.
The network of providers available to you is a separate issue from whether your company manages the risk or an insurance company does. Didn’t mention anything about provider networks.
> The network of providers available to you is a separate issue from whether your company manages the risk or an insurance company does
What I'm saying is, my company manages the risk. We partner with a larger insurer company that provides A) network B) specialists for the roles you've claimed a company would normally hire. Because of this we don't have inside actuaries and specialists and such. As a result, there is no inside man looking at my claims.
I will ask for for a third time, have you experience that differs here?
What you’ve described is the self-insurance model for large companies. That doesn’t conflict with any of my earlier comments. Companies can decide whether they want to administer it internally or use a consultant.
You seem to believe that just because a company uses a consultant that no one in HR or Finance or management would be privy to viewing your claims history via the consultant? Not sure what would lead you to believe that. Just because your company is outsourcing the task doesn’t mean it is shielded from the data.
Wow. I work in a 30-40 person office. My plan, which is the nicest available to us, is ~$300/month. Deductible is $1.5k single and $3k family, and I don't have any nice wellness perks like you described. Overall, I hate this plan. It will be handy if I ever get hit by a car and need lots of pricey surgery, but otherwise not so much. The price will be going up about 15% next year.
Deductibles are weird. If you have kids, or are on medications, you don't think much about it, because you are in and out paying co-pays $25 here, $50 there, $100 somewhere else, and that boils the frog quickly.
If you are healthy and single, and have to get anything beyond a physical done, you get slammed paying the whole shebang out of pocket because you haven't put any money towards your deductible all year.
The greatest thing in health care over the past decade has been the explosion in Convenient MD urgent care centers and the like. It makes getting checked up when something needs to get checked up about as easy as going to Jiffy Lube, which is miles better than going to an ER or trying to thread the needle through the schedule for an appointment at your PCP.
I work for such a company, and it's great. I pay about $30 per month for a plan with a tiny deductible ($2,500), and they offer great wellness perks like weekly classes (yoga, kick-boxing) in-office, partner with a local CSA that does a bi-weekly produce truck out in the parking lot. They do encourage folks to get yearly wellness screenings, and basic dental cleanings by increasing your plan by about $2 per week if you don't.
This is a single, no dependents rate. I believe the comprehensive plan, with families runs about $70 per month.
As it were, the plan is employer funded but we have some type of partnership with a major provider for administration so the employer itself isn't hiring actuaries / specialists / consultants. Perhaps your personal experiences differ here?