Remember History class and the American Revolutionary War? How ‘conventional’ war was when the British came to America to battle the Colonies?
The conventional way that war was battled was that both armies would line up against one another on the field of battle and they would take turns firing at each other’s lines. Men would drop from both sides, and the next line of men would step and take turns shooting again. It was the way war was waged.
The Colonial minute men, volunteers, farmers – anyone who could shoot and wanted to protect their freedoms, grabbed their rifles and pistols to join the ranks of Americans to fight the British. But the Americans didn’t battle conventionally. They took to ‘Guerilla Warfare’ – fighting and ambushing the British unconventionally, and as they say – the rest is history!
There is a distinct parallel to the Revolutionary War in health insurance. There are the “British” brokers and consultants who continue to conduct themselves like the British did in combat – we will ‘win this war’ because this is the way we’ve done it successfully in the past so this is how we well continue to do it. Success to these ‘British” brokers is to continue the status quo and continue to be financially successful at the cost of employers and keep selling BUCA (Blue Cross, United, Cigna, Aetna).
Now, much like the American militia, are a number of brokers and consultants who are fighting on behalf of their clients against the conventional methods of ‘warfare.’ We are battling – educationally – against the conventional brokers and BUCAs to implement health insurance plans that are giving control back to employers, rather than giving it to the ‘British.”
There are a variety of proven tactics that are successful against the conventional approaches – ones that provide a better member experience as well as lower costs, so that employers can effectively attract and retain a workforce in a tight labor market, keep employees healthy and make it affordable. Some of these include:
- Direct Primary Care
- Partial Self-funding
- Unbundling the plan with Best In Class Vendors
- Reference Based Pricing
- Direct Contracting
- Carve out specialty drugs
- Using a competitive Pharmacy Benefit Manager
- Effective Risk Management Programs
- Open networks
It’s like having Mel Gibson on your side in the movie ‘The Patriot.’ You aren’t going to win the ‘health insurance war’ by doing the same things you’ve done in the past. And if your broker/consultant is approaching your health insurance program in the conventional manner like the British approached the American Revolution, I would suggest that you find a new broker.
Want to learn more? Call me at 970-989-8577 or email me at [email protected]
