American businesses continue to bear an increasingly outrageous cost burden to provide health benefits to their employees. Too often, employers assume that they have no choice but to get health insurance coverage through one of the giant health insurance companies — the same ones who unapologetically demand price increases every year.
These big-box insurance carriers work hard to keep you from asking one simple question: Is this really the only option?
Lack of competition in our health insurance industry is stifling American healthcare quality and driving unsustainable year-over-year cost increases. The statistics are shocking. In Oklahoma, for example, one or two large health insurance companies maintain a near total monopoly in most metropolitan areas. Although many Oklahomans may not be aware of it, Oklahoma is one of the top 10 least competitive health insurance markets in the nation.
For employers — who make health insurance decisions on behalf of their employees through the form of employee benefits — this lack of competition leaves them and their employees with no meaningful choice, or at least the appearance of no choice.
Monopoly insurance companies benefit from making you believe you have no choice but to play the hand they’ve dealt you.
In states like Oklahoma, where the freedom of choice is denied, the answer is clear:
Put simply, lack of competition in health insurance means you're paying more and getting less. That's not exactly what you want to hear when it comes to something as critical as your company's health benefits.
What are the big-box health insurance companies doing to support the financial health your business and the physical health of your employees? They’re raising prices.
In Oklahoma, premium costs have skyrocketed by over 50% since 2010, far faster than wages and inflation. For Oklahoman businesses — whose tax revenues support the State's essential services, like education and country roads — premium increases push them into a difficult position: to work the numbers, each year worse, and determine how big of a financial hit they can take without passing too much onto their employees.
But no matter how hard employers try, it’s still not enough.
Resilient blue-collar workers, the backbone of Oklahoma’s economy, are now forced to spend 8.9% of their take-home pay on health insurance premiums. Only six other states have it as bad.
These numbers reveal a cold truth: just as Oklahomans work tirelessly to put food on their families' tables, monopoly health insurance companies never miss a chance to take a big bite.
As far as the giant health insurers are concerned, they’ve got a pretty good thing going. Profits are at a record high. Their demands to charge employers more and pay hospitals less are met with manageable resistance.
But what happens when they’re confronted with the fact that costs are going up and overall health is going down? Easy. Shift the blame to everyone and everything, except themselves.
So, we’ll ask again.
Why, exactly, are you paying so much for your company’s health insurance?
Don’t let these health insurance giants distract you from the truth: It doesn’t have to be this way.
There are innovative health plans out there on a mission to bring you the highest quality care at the lowest possible price. Health plans that have robust Care Coordination programs designed specifically for the at-risk and chronically ill – because that’s where 80% of medical spend comes from. Health plans that work with hospitals, not against them, because they know that close patient-to-provider relationships lead to increased health outcomes. Health plans that offer complete transparency into your health plan data, so you know exactly how your money is being spent.
Health plans that are, well, healthy.
While the legacy health insurance companies work hard to make you think their approach is just the way it’s done, Healthcare Highways is hard at work proving there are health plans doing it the way it should be done.
So, the next time you ask yourself “Why am I paying so much for my company’s health insurance? ”, remember that you have the freedom of choice.
It’s as easy as one email to us or one phone call to your employee benefits broker.