The group benefits world can be tricky. The learning curve is steep and difficult to navigate if you don’t have a trustworthy guide. Unfortunately, some group benefits companies are just waiting to take advantage of you.

The illusion of a low price

This ought to sound familiar to most business owners: while shopping for a group benefits plan for your team, each insurance company tells you they have the best plans in the market with the best prices. Now they might look fine and dandy to someone with little group benefits experience, but what they’re actually selling is mediocrity wrapped in a pretty bow.

These low-ball prices are meant to make you feel like you’re getting a good deal with solid coverage when in reality, you’ll be hit with premium hikes when renewals come around.

But why do premiums go up?

The most common reason for health and dental premium hikes is an increase in the cost of claims. Your insurance company sees this data and will raise premiums, so they have the money to pay claims. The problem is, it doesn’t work both ways. Premiums rarely go down, even if there is a low cost of claims the next year. Take a look at one of our installments where a group of six was getting hosed by premiums.

The cost breakdown

There are numerous fees included in the cost structure of health and dental coverage provided by insurance companies. You can expect to find:

• Card fees
• Admin fees
• Pooling fees
• Risk factor fees
• Commission and profit charges

These fees don’t even equate to the total cost of insurance, they’re on top of the premiums you pay to cover the claims your team submits!

Shopping sprees every year

Due to the fees and the infinitely rising premiums, businesses often shop around each year for a new plan. It’s a vicious cycle: you get a low rate, watch your premiums increase, shop for a new plan, and end up back in the same position you started every year.

We all know time equals money. If each year your business spends time shopping for a new plan, implementing it, and onboarding your team, it costs you more money. These costs aren’t always considered since you can’t account for them in a budget.

Not only are you driving up your costs with hidden fees and rising premiums, but actually wasting money on the costly search for better benefits.

The search ends here

The group benefits world doesn’t have to be a “you’re stuck with whatcha got” kind of world. It can be filled with sunshine, rainbows, and craft beer if you want it to be. With a Health Spending Account (HSA), you can not only control costs – but also provide your team with the flexibility and autonomy they want and need. With a Blendable HSA we toss out the hidden fees so it’s as plain as day. Our secret formula is only:

Claims + Admin Fee = Total Cost

That’s it! It gets better too. Remember those pesky premiums that never seem to go down? You can show them the door. In an HSA the plan sponsor contributes funds to their team’s accounts. Those teammates submit claims, and the amazing team at Blendable reimburses them. Not a premium in sight! Your team is only limited to the funds that are in their accounts and can claim anything on the CRA Medical Expense List (which is very extensive). Find out more about HSAs and what you can claim with them here!

What are you waiting for?

Let’s sum things up. You save money, your team gets to choose what they prioritize, and they get complete flexibility in their choices. Sounds like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to us. Want to know more? Get in touch with our Growth Team to learn more about HSAs, our other solutions, next steps, astrophysics, you name it! (Okay maybe not astrophysics...)

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