ALEX presents: 12 Benefits Communication Hacks (1/19 Webinar)

By David Daskal Benefits Communication Expert, Jellyvision

presents…

12 Benefits Communication Hacks

to Help Your Employees Understand Their HDHP

© 2016 The Jellyvision Lab, Inc. All rights reserved. NOTICE: We have put a lot of work into this webinar. Please don’t take this material and put it into your own material without first talking with us. Seriously.

Your host, David Daskal

•  Benefits communication expert

•  Supermarket free sample expert •  Author of benefits-themed haiku

•  Lover of anagrams

$17,545 Average health insurance premium for

families in 2015 (according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation)

1 in 5 Americans has avoided visiting a

doctor for a general health concern in the past 12 months because of cost

concerns (according to a 2014 SCIO Health Analytics Survey)

Not long ago… Employees only had two choices – the

PPO or the HMO.

Now… Those days are over. This is stressful for employees because they’re being

asked to make financial decisions about their health care that they’re not

used to making.

People don’t know how to do things that they’ve

never done before!

5 Common HDHP Problems Employees Face –

and 12 Benefits Communication Hacks to Fix Them

Memory Loss

What is the biggest employee concern leading up to open

enrollment? I want to quickly

choose a plan that I feel confident is

right for me.

These are your employees after open enrollment:

The Forgetting Curve

What’s the communication solution?

1.  Anticipate likely questions

• What happened to my copay? • What is this EOB form, and what am I

supposed to do with it? • Why does my prescription cost more than it

did last year?

2. Be ready to explain A deductible is a lot easier to understand when you say something like: Your deductible is what you pay before your insurance kicks in, and a high deductible means less money comes out of your paycheck each month to pay for insurance.

3. Promote your HDHP education resources • Consider crafting an email campaign to your

employees who have HDHP campaigns, explaining how the deductible is met, or how they can reimburse themselves if they have medical expenses before their HSA funds are available.

Point of Service Perplexity

Sticker shock! What your employees look like when their Rx

costs more than usual:

People respond to losing something with twice the amount of negative feelings as gaining something new provides with

positive feelings.

4. Remind employees what applies to their deductible This may seem obvious to your, but it’s news to your employees!

5. Use a price transparency tool to show employees how it can make shopping easier while taking the mystery out of what they’ll pay

6. Promote free prescription drug price comparison tools like GoodRx.com, Rxpricequotes.com, etc.)

HSA Befuddlement

HSA Befuddlement: Employees not knowing they can make contribution

changes throughout the year

7. Convert your HSA education resources into small messages Pretend you’re a marketer, and your product is the HSA

8. Think about the issues your employees face (and when) For example, right now might be a good time to explain that employees can use HSA funds to reimburse themselves, so if they don’t have any money in their account for services today, they can pay themselves back later once their contributions start adding up.

JANUARY - FEBRUARY   MARCH - APRIL   MAY - JUNE   JULY -AUGUST  

PROMOTE: Pricing transparency  

REMIND EMPLOYEES:  You can make HSA changes  

EXPLAIN:  How the deductible works    

REMIND EMPLOYEES:  About HSA flexibility    

PROMOTE: Prescription transparency  

REMIND EMPLOYEES: Tax advantages of HDHPs    

REMIND EMPLOYEES: About pricing transparency    

REMIND EMPLOYEES:  About HSA reimbursement    

REMIND EMPLOYEES: How HSA funds work  

PROMOTE:  Free preventive care!    

PROMOTE:  Provider’s EOB resources  

*Begin preparing your Open Enrollment materials  

REMIND EMPLOYEES:  How HSA reimbursement works  

  PROMOTE:  The value of low premiums!    

HDHP Promotion Theme Calendar

Preventive Care Coverage Confusion

…how much is THIS going

to cost?

Employees need to know what counts as preventive care and what doesn’t

9. Remind employees about possible medical charges For example, the diabetes screening will be free, but the cost of treating diabetes won’t be.

10. Emphasize the value of covered care

This will help your employees understand the value of their insurance in terms of cold, hard cash.

EOB Exhaustion

I have no idea what I’m reading.

11. Use resources from your provider that explain how to read the EOB

12. Talk about the value of having lower monthly premiums

1. Anticipate likely questions 2. Be ready to explain deductibles and maximum OOP 3. Promote your HDHP education resources 4. Remind employees what applies to their deductible 5. Use a price transparency tool 6. Promote free prescription drug price comparison tools 7. Convert HSA education resources into small messages 8. Think about the issues your employees face (and when) 9. Remind employees about possible medical charges 10. Emphasize the value of covered care 11. Use resources from your provider to explain the EOB 12. Talk about the value of having lower monthly premiums

THANK YOU!

David Daskal [email protected]

www.meetalex.com