How to reduce employee healthcare costs?

  • postauthorTripti Rai Tripti
  • postdateMarch 6, 2023
  • postreadtime4 min read
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Offering group health insurance coverage and a host of employee benefits is an important part of your business strategy. While you would like to leave no stone unturned to provide the best benefits to your employees but doing so comes at a cost which you might not be ready to incur. Moreover, due to COVID-19, the finances of many companies have taken a hit and cost-cutting has come in the form of employee termination, cutting down employee benefits, etc. Largely, employee benefits can cost a heavy amount each year, which may keep on increasing based on the number of employees you hire. However, taking certain smart steps can help you reduce your employee healthcare costs to a great extent. Here’s how 

What are employee healthcare costs? 

Employee healthcare costs can be defined as the costs that you incur towards providing healthcare facilities to your employee such as group health insurance coverage, arranging wellness sessions, Zumba sessions, taking care of their diagnostic expenses, etc.  

How to reduce employee healthcare costs? 

Be smart when choosing a specific healthcare plan 

Opting for the cheapest healthcare plan is not always the best thing to do. If the healthcare plan you choose does not cater to the requirements of your team in times of an emergency, then you will have to pay a high price with high employee turnover and loss of talent. Choose a plan that offers great value to your employees and can be customised as per your organisation’s requirements. Try to strike the right balance between cost and the benefits offered 

Don’t over-insure 

Check on your company’s past healthcare trends. Get an idea of how many employees have opted for availing healthcare benefits and what the average spending has been i.e. the coverage they have received. Simply over-insuring the employees with a high sum insured plan will lead to an increase in the cost.  Check on what your employees need and want versus opting for a one-size-fits-benefits solution. 

Promote a healthy culture 

One of the best ways to reduce employee healthcare costs is to promote a healthy culture. You can do this by arranging events, activities, and running contests. that help increases healthy behaviour, encourage employees to stay healthy and get a series of tests done to keep a check on their health, etc.  

Ask your employees 

One of the best ways to reduce employee healthcare costs is to directly ask the employees about what type of healthcare plan they would prefer to have. Would they like to have a disease-specific plan? Would they want to cover their family? What are their thoughts on having a plan that offers teleconsultation service or discounts on medicines? Do a survey through which you can reduce or remove certain employee healthcare benefits that you offer. 

Skip coverage for the family or charge for the same 

Modern-day healthcare plans do let you extend coverage to families i.e. spouses, parents, kids, brothers, sisters, parents-in-law, etc. of the employees. To reduce the costs, you can skip opting for extending health care benefits to the family members. Or you can cover them by deducting the premium from the employee’s salary.  

Look for customised plans option 

When it comes to healthcare plans, every organisation has different requirements. Therefore, choose a healthcare provider that offers you customised healthcare options. For instance, plan A offered by the employer covers only diagnostic expenses, plan B covers health insurance expenses up to 2 lakhs + teleconsultation, and plan B offers health coverage + other wellness benefits. Opting for such customised plans can help to a great extent as coverage and cost both are limited. You can also choose to offer high coverage plans based on the seniority of the members.  

Take a digital route 

Several employee healthcare benefits plans come with the provision of lab tests, doctor consultations, OPD consultations, health check-ups, etc. While completely optional, they tend to increase the company’s cost to some extent. 

One way to reduce costs and improve the quality of healthcare is to take a digital route and shift all healthcare offerings to digital mode. For example, instead of in-person doctor visits, you can offer teleconsultation to the employees. This way you won’t have to pay a huge amount to the hospitals and you will be able to save a lot of expense by partnering with a telehealth service provider. 

How Onsurity can help you reduce employee healthcare costs without affecting the value? 

Onsurity is a comprehensive, affordable employee healthcare benefits membership plan that offers SMEs and startups a range of healthcare benefits – insurance coverage through partnered insurance providers, free doctor teleconsultation with every plan, discounted medical checkups and lab tests, and even accidental cover through partnered insurance providers.   

We offer this whole range of benefits in addition to a lot more, at prices which start at only Rs. 145 per person per month. The benefits at this price point don’t just lower the overall healthcare costs but also make the benefits a lot more comprehensive.   

Get in touch with us at partners@onsurity.com to initiate your comprehensive employee healthcare journey through ways designed to reduce employee healthcare costs.   

 

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