MEET GRACE - BENEFITS MANAGER
THE EXECUTIVES THOUGHT HER IDEA TO DO A SPOUSAL CARVE-OUT WAS OFF-TRACK. UNTIL THEY SAW THE RESULTS.
GRACE'S STORY
The CEO of the 4,000-employee regional hospital system called her key executives into the “war room” to discuss their ever-increasing healthcare costs.
As the organization’s Benefits Manager, Grace was a critical player in this meeting, and was well-known for her innovative, and sometimes out-there ideas.
The meeting began with a review of the cost-reduction initiatives the organization had taken in the past. Things like plan design changes, wellness incentives, and so on.
GRACE'S BOLD IDEA!
After an hour of discussion, Grace decided it was time to present her big idea. “We should institute working spouse provisions—specifically a spousal carve-out,” she said.
Grace pushed on, “The carve-out means if a spouse is eligible for benefits from his or her own employer, then they won’t be able to participate in our plan.”
She continued, “In 2015, 27% of all U.S. employers used these provisions, and that’s projected to grow to 56% in 2018.* The long-term savings have been outstanding.”
*Annual Willis Towers Watson/NBGH Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey.
THE EXECUTIVE REBELLION
The room fell silent. The executives looked at each other. Then, the grousing began. They rattled off the reasons why her idea was off-base. “It hurts morale. It creates employee frustration. It’s discriminatory. It doesn’t fit our culture. It slows recruiting.”
But after interminable discussions of pros and cons, the CEO decided to go ahead with Grace’s spousal carve-out plan.
THE IDEA PAYS OFF BIG TIME
Grace asked us to conduct the spouse audit. The results were off the charts! We found that 48.5% of spouses were not eligible for continuing coverage.
The spouse audit produced $1.6 million in first-year healthcare savings. This was an ROI of 40 times the original investment. The executive feedback? Amazing Grace!!
GRACE'S EXPERIENCE WITH EXPERT AUDIT
“I was afraid this could blow up. My reputation was on the line. I knew people would be unhappy. I also knew the critical success factor was simple, specific, and sensitive employee communications. And that’s what Expert Audit delivered. We achieved big corporate goals with little employee distress.”
This is a true story.
