A large healthcare organization needed a different solution to enroll more employees in voluntary benefits and more decision-support tools. BeneRe helped them deliver better benefits for less money.

Key Takeaways

• The healthcare organization has more than 400 care sites and 50,000 employees across 28 states
• They were using a counseling-based model to get people to enroll in voluntary benefits, and they were seeing low enrollment
• They also needed a better solution to support employees through benefits enrollment in general
• They started working with BeneRe in 2019 and immediately saw 20% in premium reductions
• The organization has seen dividends of $1.9 million that can be reinvested in the plan to improve the employee experience

An Ohio-based, non-profit healthcare organization with more than 400 care sites and 50,000 employees across 28 states was running into issues with supplemental benefits plan enrollment. They were using a system that involved counselors coming into the workplace to help people make coverage decisions. But the business was growing rapidly, and they needed a new approach to benefits administration that could make the process easier for employees and help more people enroll. 

After working with BeneRe for over three years, beginning in 2019, they’ve seen significant improvements related to employee satisfaction and cost savings. They also saw the increased value proposition that BeneRe delivers. 

Here’s a deeper look at the challenges they were facing and the significant results BeneRe brought to the organization and its employees.

The voluntary benefits challenge

This healthcare organization was using benefits counselors to come to their locations in person and explain benefits to employees face to face. They were seeing high enrollment for the employees who had those direct one-on-one meetings, but poor enrollment for everyone who did not see a counselor when offered. So, a big portion of the population still wasn’t enrolling in accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnity coverages.

They had grown dramatically and wanted to have a more consistent experience with better decision-support tools to help these employees make coverage decisions on their own. They decided to transition away from those on-site benefit counselors, take on a more scalable benefits administration program, and implement a more advanced, user-friendly process. They wanted to focus more on employee engagement and retention and get more out of the benefits investments they were making.

They were also a bit nervous about losing that counseling opportunity for the employees who used it — but after shifting their approach with the help of BeneRe, they saw significant benefits that made it all worth it. Here’s what changed for them.

BeneRe offers the solution

This healthcare organization decided to work with BeneRe for its captive insurance group voluntary benefits plan. They also shifted to a benefits administration platform called Businessolver with the help of BeneRe. This tool has worked successfully in providing decision-support outside of that counseling option they eliminated.

After making the transition, benefits enrollment went up dramatically, and it has been a tremendous success for employee satisfaction and engagement

They immediately saw 20% savings in premiums for employees. And, because BeneRe reinsures all the programs and disburses the profits back to participating members in a “bowl of skittles” model, they had a further 20% dividend from the plan. That equated to over $1 million to spend on the next year’s health and wellness budget. 

They now have better decision-making tools and stronger financial protection for their employees. Plus, they were able to successfully integrate an online administration tool, so everything is more seamless for workers when they’re trying to understand options and make selections.

What’s different about BeneRe?

BeneRe understands that sometimes employers aren’t even aware of big challenges like what this healthcare organization was facing. They have a big spend on healthcare benefits for workers, including medical insurance and pharmacy benefits alongside disability, dental, vision, and life insurance that are all company-paid. They may not even realize how their voluntary benefits program is running alongside these other concerns, meaning they can easily miss out on simple improvements that would save them money.

Once they become aware that the value proposition of traditional voluntary benefits programs isn’t great for employees, they understand that they need a better solution. 

Many employers may not want to take on a captive insurance plan like BeneRe because they see it as a complication. It’s true that would be a non-starter if it didn’t create a better experience for the employees as well. 

With BeneRe, the plan is no different for employees than a fully insured program. There is one extra step employees complete in the participation agreement for the dividends, but that’s it. It’s not at all clunky for employees, and they end up having a better client experience through the benefits administration tool. 

BeneRe is different in these important ways:

• We offer a much better value proposition for employees
• Greater transparency in how all the financials are working in the plan, which is crucial in today’s benefits market
• Whatever isn’t used to pay claims goes back in the form of a dividend to the employee benefits plan

With our model, BeneRe has essentially unlocked the inefficient capital that the industry was keeping. 

For this healthcare organization, we saved employees 20% and gave them better voluntary benefits coverage for accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnity. We unlocked millions in value for employers to spend on a better technology experience for employees — $1.9 million to be exact.

When you’re ready to see results like these, get in touch with the team at BeneRe. We offer voluntary benefits coverage that is financed how it should be.

Reach out today for a complimentary financial analysis of in-force programs.