This is an article I wrote for the Nashville Chamber‘s newsletter “HR Notes”
It’s open enrollment time, and for some HR managers it’s about as fun to look forward to as a root canal. But putting it off won’t help. In fact, it can make the whole process even worse if there is a lot of paperwork to be done. Since the majority of businesses set up their benefits to line up with their fiscal year, starting January 1, now is the time to start on it if you haven’t already.
Making changes to your company’s benefits plan can take considerable time, depending on what changes are made. The height of the stacks of paperwork is proportional to the degree of change being made to your plan. So the bigger the changes that need to be made, the earlier you should start. Since most businesses are doing their open enrollments at the same time, your agent may have a full load then as well. Insurance carriers are working day and night to stay ahead of the changes too, but any delay might set your changes back to the last minute, making it difficult for employees to get their insurance cards.
So how do we get started? The first step is to find out if the rates have increased. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average increase this year is 9 percent, mainly due to upcoming Healthcare Reform changes. The average increase is normally 5.4 percent, and experts predict that the increases will be back to normal a year from now. If your increase is higher than expected, you may want to consider making changes.
Three Easy Ways to Reduce Your Insurance Premiums
In this economy, any reduction in premium would help, so what are some ways to change your plan in order to save money? There are essentially three big ways to do it:
1. Increase deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums. Just moving up to the next level will make a big difference in price.
2. Change the hospital network. If the insurance carrier has different networks, getting into a smaller network will save you money.
3. Change insurance carriers. The insurance companies are in competition with each other for your business. Who has the best rates? It changes all the time.
The first two on the list are easy changes; they are just a matter of picking a new plan and signing in a few places. If you decide to change insurance carriers, it will take some time. A good agent will walk you through this. First you will have to go through the quoting process, and then fill out new paperwork for all employee applications. If you need the insurance cards to arrive before January 1, you will want to get started right away.
