Joe’s choice of beer is a good example of his philosophy. He knows that in order for beer vendors to stay in business they must agree to sell based upon the price Joe and others are prepared to pay……………
By Molly Mulebriar
We have always wondered why so many of us have tried our best to make the subject of health care costs as complicated as possible.
We point to advancing technology, aging population, increasing utilization, and cost shifting due to government health plans such as Medicare and Medicaid among the prime culprits. We have coined terms such as quality metrics, quantifiable outcomes, ACO, population management, and other nice descriptions which Joe Sixpack gives only a fleeting thought to a seemingly foreign language during one of those boring benefit meetings at work, only to learn his costs are to go up and his benefits to go down, again.
We have come up with strategies to combat rising health costs by cost shifting and implementing wellness plans (that don’t work) and other strategies. Of course none have ever worked and costs continue to increase, bankrupting the middle class and driving down wages and compensation for those Americans still willing to work.
But Joe Sixpack knows the secret to reducing health care costs and he wonders why all the smart people don’t seem to know what he knows. In fact, at the last benefits meeting he asked the insurance rep., “Why don’t you just pay providers less! My recent MRI cost our plan $4,500! I called around and found I could get the same MRI for $250 twenty minutes away! Why are you paying so much with our money!”
Joe’s choice of beer is a good example of his philosophy. He knows that in order for beer vendors to stay in business they must agree to sell based upon the price Joe and others are prepared to pay. Otherwise, Joe will go to a competitor whose price meets Joe’s criteria for value and satisfy his pocketbook appetite.
Thus Joe, as many of our clients have come to learn, knows that the secret to tackling rising health care cost is to pay less.
Many of our clients have reached the same conclusion. They are now paying 30, 40, and 50% less than those health plans which continue to rely on secretive PPO managed care contracts that you can’t see, audit or question. And they have taken a portion of the savings to improve benefits.
And for Joe, paying less means more to pay…………… for more.
It’s that simple.
