It's time to perform a check up on your healthcare benefits

HEALTHCARE: According to consulting firm Unity Willis Towers Watson , health plan costs are expected to increase by over 6% in 2024. But Nebraska Furniture Mart managed to save $5 million in health plan costs in 2022 alone, by partnering with Centivo , a health plan provider for self-funded employers. The company moved away from the traditional care model for its 5,000 employees and instead, focused on curating a network of healthcare providers that had shown evidence of having the best health outcomes at the best prices.?

"The savings come from good contracts with good [healthcare] providers," says Megan Berry Barlow , chief human resources officer at NFM. "To me, that means visibility. We know the quality of providers and what those providers will be charging."

Is switching to a self-funded plan right for your business? Read on to find out how it works: How this company saved over $5 million with a self-funded health plan

ESSENTIAL WORKERS: In its 2024 Global Culture Report, workforce management software company O.C. Tanner identified that 80% of the global workforce spends less than 40% of their workday at their desk, or lacks regular access to workplace communication tools like email or Slack in their day-to-day duties. This means surgeons and pilots, as well as delivery drivers and waiters are all considered essential employees. They also all agree on just how poorly they're being treated at work.?

Most of this workforce feel undervalued and dismissed by their employers: 50% report that the organization treats them as expendable and 40% feel they are viewed as inferior by their in-office colleagues. For many, that disconnect is due to the fact they're unable to engage with their organization on equal footing with traditional office workers. An expert shares his thoughts on why this needs to change if employers want to retain this necessary demographic to their teams:

Read: Essential workers still feel undervalued. Why hasn't more changed?

RISING COSTS: "Imagine if you could change your homeowner's insurance after your house fire started. Others, those who buy insurance off the individual health insurance market, will indirectly bear the cost of that claim through higher premiums. This is exactly what is wrong with our healthcare system. It is the elephant in the room that nobody is talking about," writes Joe Markland , CEO of nfor1, Inc.

For many years, Markland says the top problem with our healthcare system is its financing system. In reality, the U.S., unlike most other countries, actually has multiple competing financing systems that cause market instability and increases costs. It disrupts people's lives when few high-cost claimants force an entire population of employees to change their insurance without a vote.?

Is there a solution? Markland lays out the options: To fix healthcare, we need to change the rules