• Employer – Multistate auto parts manufacturer, approximately 500 employees
• Previous benefit design: $1,000 deductible PPO and $1,500 deductible PPO (qualified high deductible health plan) option, allowing the use of funding accounts.

The challenge

Benefit-design tweaks to lower overall costs have been exhausted. Yet strong competitive pressure makes a robust benefit plan essential.

• Employer needs – Predictable health care costs and better employee engagement
• Employee needs – More plan choices to address personal and family needs

The solution

A GlidePath benefit design: After working with the company’s agent and account representative from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the employer set the company contribution at $6,000 for a single employee and $10,000 for a family, with plans to tie increases in future contribution amounts to increases in net profit. The employer selected a grouping of PPO plans with a benefit network that accommodates both in- and out-of-state employees.

• Employer – A locally owned collection of Michigan inns

Previous benefit design: $500 deductible HMO plan, $750 deductible HMO plan

The challenge

Rising costs forced a move to HMO-only plan offering, creating a dramatic shift in access to care for employees.

• Employer needs: Control of rising health care costs, reduced administrative requirements
• Employee needs: More affordable plan options and a more robust care network

The solution

GlidePath benefit design: After determining the total amount they could plan to spend on their health care benefits, management chose a grouping with both PPO and HMO plans. Options included plans with higher deductibles and lower monthly premiums, as well as plans with lower deductibles and higher monthly premiums.

• Employer – A small Michigan county

Previous plan design: $100 deductible PPO plan and $250 deductible PPO plan

The challenge

With new cost shift onto the employees, the employer must be even more diligent about managing the cost of health care.

• Employer needs: Public Act 152 became Michigan law in the fall of 2011, mandating a hard cap on the contributions public-sector employers can make toward employee health insurance premiums. The county employees were used to a rich benefit plan, but now lower-wage public servants might find it difficult to afford their higher contribution requirement.
• Employee needs: More affordable plan options and more help choosing a health plan from options different from what they’ve known.

The solution

• GlidePath benefit design: With analytical support from the Blues, the county administrators chose a grouping of plan options that still offers very rich benefits but also incorporates lower-cost plans.

• Employer – Multi-state manufacturer of domestic goods

Previous benefit design: Medicare-supplemental traditional PPO plan

The challenge

To enable them to sustain their retiree health benefits program, the company’s benefits decision makers needed a practical, long-term solution to make its costs predictable. At the same time they needed the program to continue to be valuable for retirees.

• Employer needs - Reduce costs and control liabilities related to long-term retiree health benefit costs
• Employee needs: A variety of affordable plan options to meet their different individual needs

The solution

• GlidePath benefit design: After determining the range of potential retirees’ needs, management chose a grouping of plan designs that included both PPO and HMO Medicare Advantage plans. Options included plans with higher deductibles and lower monthly premiums, as well as plans with lower deductibles and higher monthly premiums. All PPO plans feature nationwide networks providing coverage for retirees wherever they may be located.