Why More Companies Will Think of Benefit Plans as ‘Health Hubs’ in 2021

By Christopher Paquette, SVP and CDSO, Trustmark Jan 5, 2021

Originally posted on HR Daily Advisor

There’s no doubt that 2020 was a challenging year. As with other industries, we dealt with ensuring the continued health and safety of our employees and providing the ongoing service and support our customers have come to expect and appreciate during the COVID-19 pandemic. But, 2020 also gave Human Resources professionals a great opportunity to rethink benefits plans.

Over the last few years, the rise of the high-deductible health plan (HDHP) and health savings accounts (HSAs) has resulted in a shift in accountability from employers to employees when making healthcare decisions. This is a trend that likely won’t change anytime soon.

In some cases, employees with HDHPs are inadvertently getting the message they should be avoiding care altogether to save themselves and their family money. And they’re engaging with their benefit plan sporadically. Unlike how employees engage with other industries, they tend to step into and out of their benefit plan, often with little information. It’s incumbent on all of us to recognize that our employees are consumers, as well, and provide them with an end-to-end healthcare journey that’s a true continuum.