Felice J. Freyer of the Boston Globe writes about how publishing the cost of health care services does not actually lead to decreased consumer spending on those services.
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Perhaps more than in any other industry, nonprofit organizations are strongly vested in keeping their employees happy, healthy, and productive. After all, nonprofits have some of the highest turnover rates in the US workforce, which can cost 20% (or more depending on the skillset being replaced) of total salary to replace.
It’s probably no surprise to hear that healthcare benefits matter to your employees. How much they matter is more likely the bigger question.Eighty-nine percent of surveyed employees*think that employer-sponsored healthcare is equally as important as getting a salary. What’s more, 63% of surveyed employees said that benefits play a factor in their choice to stay with their current job.
Lisa Aliferis recently wrote for KQED about the important differences between California's "active purchaser" exchange and exchanges in other states where any plan that seeks to participate is included without negotiation of premiums and benefits.
Employers have very apparent opinions on what they want to change about the Affordable Care Act.
Dave Chase recently wrote for Forbes about how the irrational set of circumstances in which the healthcare industry finds itself have certain implications - the continued hyperinflation of premiums would accelerate the employer realization that they need to take matters into their own hands and disintermediate healthcare plans. A growing number of employers are doing exactly that.
It’s the season for mid-year healthcare plan renewals. As such, many organizations are likely re-examining their current healthcare plans (and possibly brokers) to determine if there’s any room for improvement and/or more savings. But while a large percentage of small-to-midsize nonprofits typically opt for traditional fully-funded employee healthcare, partially self-funded healthcare might actually be a better option.
Photo: HCW Benefits
This week the Kaiser Family Foundation released an insight brief on actual employee cost-sharing data for healthcare spending as reported between 2004-2014. By analyzing a sample of health benefit claims over that decade, researchers were able to identify how consumer spending on deductibles, copays, and coinsurance has changed.
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Physician shortages. High turnover rates. Noncompetitive compensation packages. These are just some of the challenges community health centers face when trying to staff their valuable and much-needed clinics. And when challenges like those listed above interfere, the communities served by these health centers don’t receive the healthcare they so desperately need. In fact, health centers estimate that if staffing needs were met they could collectively serve an additional two million people.
The dilemma of providing competitive employee healthcare while adhering to strict overhead budgets can be a never-ending challenge for many nonprofits. This is especially true for community health centers, which often struggle to provide their staff with the very thing their missions stand for – quality, affordable healthcare.
