Do you offer a Platinum plan with a Bronze price tag? How to communicate your health plan’s value
You have an incredible opportunity this year to show how valuable—in real dollars—the health insurance plan you offer is to your employees and their families. Why? Because the state exchange plans won’t offer a plan that comes close to yours.
But what’s the best way to get that message across? Can we say something that’s actuarially accurate, but still makes sense to the average person?
- You don’t need to do anything new!
- You’re not eligible for a government subsidy!
- You already have a Platinum plan!
A Platinum plan at a Bronze price!
We have a starting point with plan levels defined under the ACA: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Your plan designs are very generous—even the lowest cost ones. Borrowing ACA terms, your plans are likely gold or platinum.
Still, even with plans as rich as yours, you’ve likely communicated rising rates over the past decade—and the government and media aren’t helping matters by talking about a subsidy that your employees aren’t eligible to receive.
Although you might think that telling your employees how you heavily subsidize the cost of your plans, that message may be lost on employees. Instead, beat the marketers at their own “everyone gets a bargain” game. Try saying: “You get a Platinum plan for the price of a Bronze plan!”
15 shades of Platinum?
Speed bump: There won’t be a national example of a Platinum plan—nor one for a Bronze, Silver or Gold plan. HHS decided to let states pick their own benchmark plan and use it to identify the specific covered services known as essential health benefits. That means these state-identified plans will determine what specific services are covered within the broad coverage areas like in-patient hospital services.
If states previously required certain things to be covered, they can add those to the essential benefit package, as is the case in California. However, since so many states are defaulting to the federal exchange, there may be in fact a de facto national standard for the majority of Americans.
A picture tells 1,000 words
It’ll be impossible for employees to navigate the health insurance marketplaces and come out with a clear apples-to-apples comparison of your plan and a Platinum plan, even if they’re armed with their shiny new Summary of Benefits and Coverage. Here’s what we can recommend:
- Peg your plan, in marketplace terms. Talk to your actuaries about the value of your plans, in terms of the four metal plan levels. Do you offer all Platinum-plus plans? Or a mix of Gold and Platinum? If you feel confident mucking around with a CMS calculator yourself, go for it!
- Do the math for your employees. Once you’ve pegged it, compare the price tags—with your subsidy. You’ll get employees on board much more quickly if they know how much they’ll save every year by sticking with your plan.
- Draw them a picture—literally. This isn’t a message that’s cleanly delivered by words alone. Get a good designer, someone who’s a thinker as well as an artist, to help you communicate the value of your plan.
As long as you’re offering employer-sponsored health coverage in 2014, you owe it to your company to take credit for the amazing coverage you offer to employees and their families. Sure, the ACA and the health insurance marketplaces throw a lot of dust in the air for you—but they also offer you a chance to back up the value statements you’ve broadcasted for years.
