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Cutting Health Insurance Costs
October 10, 2007 Big jumps in health insurance premiums and self-insurance costs have caused law firms to look at some unique cost management techniques. One of the prime methods is the use of a Health Savings Accounts as an encouragement for employees to participate in preventative and precautionary measures. Some firms reduce deductibles and provide other incentives for employees for non-tobacco use, low waist measurement and other lifestyle choices.
Law firms are learning lessons on managing health care costs from large corporations, some of which are considered “Best Places to Work.” Among the most important lessons is that participants, even highly educated participants such as lawyers, fail to understand the basic benefits of their plans and, therefore, often do not respond to the incentives. The answers being used by some firms include:
- Providing letters for employees to give to their doctors, highlighting the incentives that apply to deductibles;
- Sending letters to spouses advising them of the incentives and inviting them to benefit presentations; and
- Specific requests that participants check medical bills for accuracy with a phone number to call if they see a discrepancy. Examples include a man who was charged for a mammogram during a routine physical, and hospital charges for over-the-counter medications charged to patients as prescriptions at discharge.
The main thrust of the program is to reverse the thinking of health care participants that insurance programs are like “a one-price, all-you-can-eat buffet.” One of the techniques is to give examples of actions that result in higher health insurance costs; for example, a home-schooling mom with four children using weekly visits to the pediatrician as a social activity or an employee who recommended his “great chiropractor” to all his co-workers, regardless of whether they had a condition requiring treatment. | 
