Finance Monthly - March 2022

41 Finance Monthly. Bank i ng & F i nanc i a l Se r v i ce s without a substantial premium contribution from the employee’s paycheck week to week. We work strategically with each client to meet the needs of their diverse employee population. Tell us about the creative ways in which The Difference Card offers a cost- effective health insurance plan without reducing benefits for employees? Our bread-and-butter product, a MERP (Medical Expense Reimbursement Plan), has been our most successful strategy. We aim to keep the client with the same health insurance company, including the same network of providers, to cause the least disruption possible. We recommend the company buys a plan with higher copays and a higher deductible to reduce the amount in fixed premium they will pay the insurance carrier. The company will then “selffund” the difference in benefits, resulting in the same net plan to the employee. Our on-staff team of underwriters and actuaries use over 20 years of data to provide the company with a financial analysis of potential savings by using the MERP strategy. For example, if a company’s medical plan currently has a $20 office visit copay, we recommend they purchase a plan with a $50 office visit copay to reduce the amount in fixed premium they are paying the insurance carrier. Health insurance carriers discount premiums for plans with higher out of pocket costs for the employees. To keep the same benefits intact, the company will then fund the difference in benefits ($30 in this example) to the employees. The Difference Card administers the reimbursement to mirror the benefits the company previously offered. On average our clients are saving about $2000 per employee, per year off their healthcare spend. Why should more organisations consider working with The Difference Card? Healthcare is not a one-sizefits-all product. Our clients range from companies with 25 employees to upwards of 1000. A few niche industries include non-profits, municipalities, and higher education. With certain clients the financial aspect of our solution is attractive. For others, we’ve strategised to build custom medical plans to improve benefits for employees. By reducingmedical premiums, our clients take significant advantage of the effects of compounding. If their medical premium prior to using The Difference Card was $1,000,000, typically for health plan recommendations the company would realise a reduction in premium of about $200-$300k. If the client were to receive a renewal premium increase the following year, it would be an increase on a much smaller number. We offer a multi-year cost savings strategy, versus just a Band-Aid for a tough medical renewal. In the complex world of healthcare, there are solutions out there to mitigate costs. Our goal is to build the most cost-effective healthcare plans for our clients and to fix a broken healthcare system. “On average our clients are saving about $2000 per employee, per year off their healthcare spend.” For more information, email sales@differencecard.com Sources: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/press-release/average-family-premiums-rose-4-to-21342-in2020-benchmark-kff-employer-health-benefit-survey-finds/

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