Your Employees Are Begging You To Watch This Video

Your Challenge

If you are going to read this article, I am going to ask you to do something that will make it much more meaningful to you. Ask yourself the following question and then stop reading, shut your eyes for one minute and do your best to come up with real answers.  Ready?

What is the most valuable thing you have ever bought for one dollar? 

Okay, open your eyes. Was it easy to come up with a list? How many things could you think of? Well, let's see. We can rule out an Iced Skim Milk Macchiato at Starbucks because you would spend four times that amount of money for their smallest serving. Maybe it was something you bought at a .99 Cents Store? By definition, every item sold there passes the financial qualifications of my question, right? However, you might struggle a little with the "most valuable" part of the answer for that option. The reality is unless you are lucky enough that you can say a winning Powerball Ticket, I have a hunch you are at a loss to come up with much of anything. And that should not surprise you or anyone else, because what can you buy today for a dollar that has any true value?

What would you say if I told you the answer might very well be the health or even the life of one of your most valued employees? Or how about if I suggested you have the ability to provide Unlimited Primary Medical Care for each person you employ and their entire family, for only one dollar? If you are anything like me, the first thing that would come to your lips would probably be BS. However, I am asking you to set aside your skepticism for one minute and consider the following facts about the capabilities of Telemedicine.

What is the most valuable thing you have ever bought for one dollar? 

Okay, open your eyes. Was it easy to come up with a list? How many things could you think of? Well, let's see. We can rule out an Iced Skim Milk Macchiato at Starbucks because you would spend four times that amount of money for their smallest serving. Maybe it was something you bought at a .99 Cents Store? By definition, every item sold there passes the financial qualifications of my question, right? However, you might struggle a little with the "most valuable" part of the answer for that option. The reality is unless you are lucky enough that you can say a winning Powerball Ticket, I have a hunch you are at a loss to come up with much of anything. And that should not surprise you or anyone else, because what can you buy today for a dollar that has any true value?

What would you say if I told you the answer might very well be the health or even the life of one of your most valued employees? Or how about if I suggested you have the ability to provide Unlimited Primary Medical Care for each person you employ and their entire family, for only one dollar? If you are anything like me, the first thing that would come to your lips would probably be BS. However, I am asking you to set aside your skepticism for one minute and consider the following facts about the capabilities of Telemedicine.

1.  Current studies indicate 84% of all visits to a Primary Care Physician's office, could be handled as safely and effectively through telemedicine, versus an actual visit to the doctor's office.

2.  71% of all employer-sponsored visits to an ER are medically unnecessary. Consequently, each time one of your employees selects a telehealth visit instead of a primary care, urgent care or emergency room visit, your company health plan saves, on average $673.00. Additionally, your company will reap another $47.00 in productivity savings, from an employee not having to take time off work to go to the doctor.

3.  In 2017, our telehealth partner, Teladoc, completed an astonishing 1,463,000 telehealth visits, which was a 53% increase over 2016. They did this while maintaining a 95% patient satisfaction rate a 92% positive resolution rate. When these employees were polled, 90% of them indicated they would they use Teladoc again, and further expressed it would be their first choice, the next time they had to seek primary medical care.

4.  With an average "wait time" of only 11 minutes, Teladoc is available to employees 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. When your employees elect to participate in the program, coverage is extended to all family members in their household, and they are never charged a deductible, co-pay, or per appointment fee of any kind. Nor are they any restrictions on how often or how many times they use the benefit throughout the year.

5.  In a 2016 case study, T-Mobile has documented over $2,200,000 in annual company savings by adopting the identical Telehealth Platform that Corporate Benefits Alliance offers through Teladoc. The case study is available on our website at www.thecorporatebenefitsalliance.com

Now here are a few not so uplifting facts about lower wage hourly employees working in the sixteen industries that Corporate Benefits Alliance serves.

1.  Roughly 42% of all working Americans make less than $15.00 an hour. Of those people, approximately 38,000,000 million are employees working in one of the sixteen industries that rely on a predominantly low wage hourly workforce

2.  An employee making $11.00 an hour is statistically three times less likely to go to a doctor when he or she is ill than their professional counterpart. That is because in all likelihood they either do not have a medical insurance plan that will pay for the doctor's visit or they can't afford to take time off work since it is already nearly impossible to live on their full-time weekly take-home pay.

3.   Despite the ACA's attempts to legislate "Affordable Health Care" for all Americans, the participation rate in a company-sponsored major medical plan for these employees is a dismal 8%. The cold, stark reality is: 132.00 dollars a month is NOT AFFORDABLE to a Janitor that makes a gross wage of 1,620 dollars a month and takes home 304 dollars a week. (Which perversely is reduced to $264 a week because he has to the IRS pay a fine for not being able to afford health insurance in the first place). And something tells me that 20,000 pages of ACA rules and regulations about affordability aren't going to change this janitor's mind.

4. The recent announcement from Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway are developing a healthcare company that would be "free from profit-making incentives." is very encouraging. I have high hopes that Messrs. Buffet, Dimon, and Bezos will succeed in fixing the healthcare disaster that we have managed to create in this country. I hope they disrupt the entire system and stand it on its proverbial head.  Unfortunately, that is not going to happen overnight. It probably goes without saying while these brilliant men are sorting this mess out, you are still going to need your hourly workforce to be healthy, productive and loyal to your company's core mission.

 Now, let’s get back and see where that one dollar fits in. Whether employ 200 employees or 200,000, as a CXO of a company that relies on a predominantly low wage workforce, you have a unique opportunity to provide every employee with primary medical care for themselves and their families. And you can make this happen just by matching their contribution of one dollar a week. There is ample data to support the ROI of this "investment" will exceed 300% annually. But don’t do it just for the ROI, do it because it is the right thing to do for your employees, their families, and your company. Now, please go back and re-read my opening question. How many worthwhile purchases were you able to come up with that cost one dollar? How about letting the health and gratitude of a security guard, janitor, line cook, counter person, home health aid or ticket taker be at the top of that list?

I am willing to bet you would be hard-pressed to come up with a better use for a dollar.

Bruce Monteith is President and Chief Operating Officer of Corporate Benefits Alliance, a Benefits Consulting Firm dedicated to simplifying the complexity and mitigating the financial burden of ACA compliance for companies in sixteen specific industries. If you would like to learn more about establishing a best in class telehealth platform for your employees, please feel free to speak with any of our Benefits Professionals at 818.651.6699. 

You may email Bruce Monteith directly at bmonteith@TheCorporateBenefitsAlliance.com. All licensed insurance products are exclusively offered through Speyer Meridian Insurance Services, LLC * CA License # 0K36471. If you like this article, please let us know with a thumbs up and feel free to share with others. Your comments are welcomed and encouraged.  Teladoc is a licensed trademark of Teladoc Corporation.