Employers nationwide—especially small and mid-sized groups—are facing tough budgetary decisions resulting from the increasingly burdensome costs associated with providing employee health coverage, many of which are forced to choose between offering benefits, maintaining/growing their workforce, and staying within budget.
According to professional services firm Aon, the average employer cost for providing healthcare benefits will rise by 6.5% in 2023 to more than $13,800 per employee. This projection is more than double the 3% increase to healthcare budgets that employers saw from 2021 to 2022.1
The fact is that this dramatic upward trend in cost isn’t projected to change anytime soon. Given the highly competitive nature of today’s labor market, employers need a better option for healthcare coverage that, not only protects their bottom line, but also improves employee
satisfaction and bolsters recruitment and retention.
The Rise of the HSA
A Health Savings Account (HSA), typically paired with a high-deductible heath plan (HDHP), allows participants to set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical expenses. By using untaxed HSA dollars to pay for deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and some other expenses, participants can lower their overall healthcare costs.
First introduced in 2003, the HSA has seen a surge in popularity in recent years, as employers and plan sponsors are recognizing the tremendous value of empowering the healthcare consumer to take charge of their own care and financial well-being by contributing, saving, and investing in their future.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) reports that the number of HSA accounts across the U.S. has increased by more than 60% over the last five years, and the assets within those HSAs has grown by a whopping 250%.2
For employer groups, offering a health plan that utilizes an HSA ensures that their workforce has access to the same quality, affordable care provided by a traditional plan—all for significantly less. It’s a win-win for all stakeholders!
For employer groups interested in reaping the benefits of such a plan, and for the long-term, we’d like to introduce you to ful. – an innovative, HSA-centric solution for the modern healthcare marketplace.
Seeing the ful. Picture
Delivering richer benefits for less doesn’t have to be intimidating. A fully integrated high-deductible health plan paired with a prefunded HSA, ful. shifts some of the premium spend to members. This shift not only makes healthcare more accessible, but it effectively orchestrates the flow of members’ hard-earned healthcare dollars while providing the same service as a traditional policy.
Additionally, ful. delivers the added benefits of price transparency, less onerous and less costly administration, and, with well aligned dollars, a level playing field conducive to controlling utilization.
By simply changing the way the money flows through the health plan, ful. gives groups the power of members who want to learn and become savvy healthcare consumers, take an active role in their own care and financial future, and get rewarded for doing so.
With ful., ALL members benefit by accumulating HSA savings. The result? Lower claim costs for the members and the plan.
1 https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/us-employer-healthcare-costs-projected-increase-65-2023
2 https://www.plansponsor.com/mega-trends-emerged-drive-growth-hsas/