The Latest edHEALTH News for You

Monthly news & updates

May 17, 2021 | Issue 16

Test Your Recall from Our Recent Newsletter

If you’re a go-it-alone self-insured healthcare purchaser, how does joining a purchaser collaborative save you money?

Walking Challenge Steps off Monday, June 7

Check out the latest updates.

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IN-Person (We Hope!) Member-Owner Meeting

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

11 AM - 6 PM

The Connors Center - Boston College

Dover, MA

Internal Revenue Service Announces 2022 Limits

Here are the IRS’s Health Savings Account (HSA) and High-Deductible Plan minimum and maximum deductible limits for 2022.

Advisors Collaborate With edHEALTH Team to Identify Solutions for Their Clients

Savings Drive Consultant Recommendations

The primary reason a health insurance consultant recommends edHEALTH to their higher and secondary education clients is when the pricing estimates support the change. Healthcare puts a huge strain on college, university, and private secondary school budgets, which drives up tuition costs. “Higher education is struggling with drops in enrollment and controlling costs is critical,” said Ben Lewis, Partner, Strategic Healthcare Practice Leader, Consiliarium Group, LLC. “Employee compensation and benefit costs represent the lion’s share of college budgets.”

Through our purchasing clout, edHEALTH can negotiate lower administrative fees with less healthcare cost volatility than schools can generally realize on their own. The seven-year average health insurance premium increase is 2.9%, well below the industry average of 7.9%.

FIND OUT HOW ADVISORS COLLABORATE WITH edHEALTH FOR THE BENEFIT OF THEIR CLIENTS

Thought Leadership Seminar Speaker and

BC Alum Joining

Beth Israel Lahey Health

Juan Fernando Lopera, edHEALTH’s upcoming Thought Leadership Seminar speaker and Boston College alum, was named as the incoming inaugural Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer of Beth Israel Lahey Health. He is a premier expert on the topic he will discuss at our Wednesday, May 26 event, “How to Ensure Healthcare Equity in Keeping with Your Diversity and Inclusion Goals.

“As an organization, Beth Israel Lahey Health has made a long-term commitment to driving change and being an inclusive, welcoming organization for both patients and employees alike, and it’s an honor to lead this important work forward as the organization’s first Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer,” said Lopera. “At a moment in history when we are dealing with the dual pandemics of racial injustice and COVID-19, we have a significant responsibility to address workforce equality and health disparities.”

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how we can advance our educational institution’s diversity, inclusion, and equity objectives through our employee healthcare benefit program.

3 Steps to Find Out How Much Your School Will Save on Employee Health Benefits

There’s new urgency in finding ways to cut spending at higher education institutions and secondary schools. Compensation and benefits generally comprise at least 60% of a school’s budget; finding ways to reduce employee health insurance costs is an effective strategy for containing costs without sacrificing the quality of your benefits package.

edHEALTH’s group purchasing power can generate significant savings on three key components of your employee healthcare benefit costs:

Stop-loss coverage
Administrative fees
Prescription drug benefits

“If schools want to evaluate the savings they will realize by joining edHEALTH on January 1, we encourage them to start the process in June,” said Nancy McConaghy, edHEALTH’s Business Development Executive.

DISCOVER THE 3 STEPS TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOUR SCHOOL WILL SAVE WITH edHEALTH

COVID-19 Vaccine Policies Provoke Strong Opinions

72.2% of edHEALTH Member Colleges Will Require

Colleges and universities should require COVID-19 vaccines for all students who plan to attend in-person classes, according to an April 14 New York Times editorial. The authors posit that vaccine mandates are the fastest way to return to normalcy by achieving herd immunity – with 70 percent to 85 percent of the population having some form of immunity. Since certain vaccines are already required for school attendance, the COVID-19 vaccine shouldn’t be any different.

On the flip side, mandatory vaccines could create backlash from civil libertarians and anti-vaccine activists who believe vaccines should be a personal choice. Recent research shows that there is a higher rate of vaccine skepticism among some Republicans, religious organizations, and minority groups, and schools aren’t looking to disenfranchise students and their families. Certain religious and medical conditions are eligible for exemptions, although the employer can require proof.

FIND OUT THE APPROACH OF MEMBER COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

And the Answer Is…

Self-insurance saves schools from paying profits on top of claims. However, if you’re a small or medium-sized school, you won’t have the purchasing leverage to negotiate with plan administrators. "Moving from our own self-insured arrangement to the edHEALTH self-insured arrangement provided economies of scale on administrative and stop-loss costs," said Bob Totino, Vice President of Finance and CFO for Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Find out the other ways WIT saved money.

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