Show them how much you care (with telemedicine)
As I scroll through the LinkedIn feed, I can't help but notice that a substantial portion of the content here has a common theme. While said in many ways, it boils down to companies expressing how much they genuinely appreciate their employees and value the way they attend to their work.
Most of these posts are genuine and sound like they come from the heart. However, I struggle to reconcile these expressions of care with the unfortunate reality for the millions of employees who work in low-wage, high turn-over unskilled positions. While a scientific study does not back my data, I know them to be true from personal and first-hand observation. How is it possible that so many hard-working Americans are left behind when it comes to access to the most basic primary medical care?
My company provides call center assistance to more than 50,000 low-wage hourly workers during their annual open enrollment for employer-sponsored medical plans. When we tabulated the results from the 2018 enrollment season, the implications were as alarming as they were sad.
• Approximately ninety-one percent of the full-time low-wage hourly workers we assisted have no choice but to decline their company-sponsored medical insurance, even though they are not eligible for Medicaid or Medical and have no other health insurance in force. Despite an employee contribution of only $125 a month, the plan is simply unaffordable. When your take-home pay is $1,200 a month, you struggle to pay life's necessities, including housing, food, clothes, and transportation. A $125 a month health insurance premium is not an option.
• It was clear to our enrollment staff the nine percent of employees who did select an insurance plan, did so because they knew they were in poor health. While the medical insurance options were compliant with the Affordable Care Act, the average annual deductible of the lowest-priced plan was just under $7,000. To put this in perspective, an hourly employee would have to spend (on average) fifty percent of their annual take-home pay on medical expenses before their insurance contributed anything.
• The fact that the plans offered by their employer were ACA compliant negated an employee's ability to receive premium assistance or income-based tax credits in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Consequently, all the employees we helped had lost an opportunity to purchase an affordable plan with a lower deductible in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Mostly, these employees do not have access to an insurance plan that could prevent a financial catastrophe that even a moderately severe illness would precipitate.
There is a partial solution to this problem that is so simple and affordable that I am genuinely bewildered that it is not embraced by every employer that relies on a predominantly low wage hourly workforce. While the solution is not perfect, dollar for dollar, nothing else can come close.
An employer can offer Telemedicine on a voluntary basis that would allow employees to cover themselves and their dependents for a total cost of $8 a month for single coverage, $12.00 for full family coverage. We have currently waived the employer match of $2 a month through 1/1/2021.
By sponsoring a plan like this, you would give your employees access to state-licensed board-certified physicians whenever they need it - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. These physicians diagnose, treat, and prescribe medication exactly like a physician would if you visited their office. Your employees and their family members could access this primary medical care without any deductible, co-pay, or any additional cost whatsoever for either the employee or your company.
I can only think of two reasons why a company would not sponsor this. One reason is predicated on misinformation, the other a lack of understanding of how advanced technology has driven the revolution of Telemedicine and virtual medical care.
1 - Telemedicine isn't "Real Medicine."
According to the United States Center for Disease Control, there were 837 million visits to primary care physician offices in the United States in 2017. According to the same report, 695,540,000 (eighty-one percent) of these doctor's office visits could have been handled through a virtual office visit (Telemedicine) with the same diagnostic accuracy as an actual visit to the doctor's office. Stated another way, eighty-one percent of the time that your employees or their family members needed to see a primary care physician, your company's telemedicine platform could meet that need immediately and with no additional cost to your company or your employee.
Statistics compiled by the CDC indicate that Eighty-three percent of your employees (and their spouses) will see a primary care physician this year. Ninety-four percent of their children will see a pediatrician or primary care physician. Sixty-two percent of these visits will cause your employees to either leave work early or miss their scheduled shift entirely. They will pay, on average, $117 for each primary care visit or $182 for each urgent care visit.
The Telemedicine industry leader, Teladoc, has a Ninety-two percent resolution rate for the following types of ailments.
Allergies, arthritic pain, asthma, bronchitis, colds, flu, diarrhea, infections, insect bites, pharyngitis, conjunctivitis, rashes, respiratory infections, sinusitis, skin inflammations, cellulitis, sore throats, sprains and strains, bladder infections, UTIs, sports injuries or vomiting.
Employees would not have to miss work or drive to the doctor's office, only to wait for hours in a room full of sick people. Instead, they would request a virtual visit through their telephone, smartphone app, computer or tablet, and connect with a doctor within 6 minutes.
2 - We already have Telemedicine through our health insurance company.
I am not at all surprised; the BUCAs (Blue Cross, United Healthcare, Cigna, Aetna) have all embraced Telemedicine and integrated it into their policies because they know it works. However, I am talking about the ninety-one percent of your employees who could not afford to buy the company-sponsored insurance, not the nine percent who did. Those are the employees who need this benefit the most, and they can't get it without your support.
Telemedicine, for the most part, cannot be purchased on an individual basis. The plans that are available to individuals are inferior in quality and expensive. If you can find a personal plan, it will cost $50 a month or more and have a per session co-pay of $25-$50. It will only cover the person buying it (not their dependents) and often the wait to speak with a doctor is hours. Companies that sell individual plans also charge a $30 - $ 50 "implementation fee" on top of the monthly and per session charges.
I know you genuinely care about your employees, and you care about their wellbeing. Now, I want to help you show them. If you request a detailed Telemedicine proposal from Corporate Benefits Alliance in the month of June, we will offer all your employees a free two-month full access subscription to Teladoc, the world leader in Telemedicine.
Additionally, there is no obligation to continue with either the program or an employee's participation after the end of the trial. The detailed proposal from Corporate Benefits Alliance will outline savings the company will realize from a reduction in claims paid by your health plan and increased worker productivity.
After the two-month free trial, your employees can choose to continue with Teladoc, or they can cancel with no obligations to purchase anything. For those who wish to continue their coverage, they will pay $8 a month through payroll deduction single coverage, $12 for family for full family coverage. There is no long-term commitment for your employees or your company — either of you can cancel at any time. The only restriction is that an employee can only enroll once a year, so if they cancel coverage, they must wait a year before they can re-enter the program.
I can't think of any way to make this offer more attractive to your company, or of any better way for you to show your employees how much you care about them. Please take a moment and request a detailed proposal from us, your employees are counting on the fact you care so they can access theirs.
Bruce Monteith is President of Corporate Benefits Alliance, an innovator of products and services that are specifically designed to improve the bottom-line financial results for companies operating in the sixteen industries that rely on a predominantly low wage, high turn-over hourly workforce.
Bruce earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Delaware and has an associate degree in risk management. He has also received industry designations of Certified Insurance Consoler, Certified Professional Advisor of Insurance, and Accredited Advisor of Insurance.