My take on the Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase foray into health insurance

Okay, so a lot of people are freaking out about this thinking that the 3 power house combo is going to actually do something significant in the marketspace. Health insurer stocks tumbled, investors are jittery.

It's all BS.

How many times have I used this term in my posts?

None.

Why am I saying this?

Because what people think will save money won’t. I can take their group TODAY, and change their medical spend TODAY, freeing up massive amounts of cashflow TODAY. Guaranteed or I don’t get paid (I only get paid after I demonstrate results).

The best that they can do is the create something similar to what Kaiser has done in California. It’s a great system, but nothing new. Here are several reasons why.

1.       There is a floor to how much you can pay doctors. Any less and they will work for someone else.

2.       There is a floor to how much you pay hospital staff. Any less and they will work for someone else.

3.       My personal opinion is that 30% of ALL studies that modern medicine is based upon are either fake (artificially generated results) or not able to be replicated. More of bad medicine means sicker people, not healthier.

4.       They will buy into the three darlings of large brokerages:

a.       Population Health Management

b.       Wellness

c.        Analytics

These WILL NOT dramatically impact the severity and frequency of claims THIS YEAR. They will save a little money, but no more than “dust on a peanut” for a large employer.

5.       They will listen to “experts” who will tell them that cost increases due to “trend” are inevitable and PAY them money when their rates go up by millions of dollars (and think it’s okay).

Technology will NOT solve these problems.

Technology will NOT dramatically reduce the severity and frequency of claims.

My best guess is that they will NOT allow alternative medicine into the mix (acupuncture, naturopathy, etc). If they do, good for them. But it will still NOT reduce the severity and frequency of claims.

Have I made myself clear enough?

Expect More From Your Broker

In today's world, handing a spreadsheet of options to a client misses the key pieces that employers need. Employers need the following along with an "easy button."

1. Help with making sure the benefits strategy fits with your overall business strategy. Let's face it, benefits are expensive. If you are offering benefits to employees (i.e. health, life, dental, vision, retirement plan, telemedicine, voluntary, short term disability, long term disability, and or wellness), you want a return on your investment. Better recruiting, better retention, and happier and healthier employees. Make sure whatever you do can be communicated in a positive way to your employees via either the broker or positive communications. The conversation with your broker should START with where your benefits strategy fits into your overall business strategy.

2. Assistance with the myriad of regulations the government has imposed on your business and definitely help with compliance with the affordable care act. We offer a full HR library up to and including an HR person to answer an employer's most pressing questions. The library is available day or night via computer or phone and is regularly updated and includes sample policies and procedures. We also offer ACA reporting for the 1094 and 1095 forms along with a Wrap Summary Plan Description.

3. Creative strategies to keep the cost of insurance down while still serving the needs of your employees. This includes determining whether your benefits are better or worse than similar companies. It could mean looking at level or self funding options or health reimbursement arrangements on the medical side. Implementing a wellness program in a cost effective way (we have one that will save you money - we can actually put the numbers to it for you). If you are a large self insured company, offering claims data analysis to see where you can save money. We can even offer actuarial support on your benefits plans for larger companies.

4. Ongoing support as needed. A responsive staff to take care of the little stuff and access to your broker for the big stuff. Employee adds, drops, COBRA, etc. can be handled via your broker or the systems they set up for you.

5. Ongoing reviews. Touching base at least quarterly to make sure we are serving you the best that we can.

6. Taking care of your employees like they are our own. We can come in (or provide webinars) and do financial lunch and learns, arrange talks from the American Cancer Society or American Diabetes Association, and other organizations as it fits the needs of your population.

In short, expect more from your broker. You will thank yourself for it.