Providing Benefits to Your Employees: Innovate Today, Be Ready for Tomorrow!

The information contained in this article is not intended as legal advice and may no longer be accurate due to changes in the law. Consult NHMA's legal services or your municipal attorney.

Do you know what matters most to your employees? A recent Gallup poll of almost 14,000 employees asked what was most important to them when deciding whether to accept a new job offered by a new employer. Number one? An increase in pay or benefits (said by 64%). Number two? Greater work-life balance and better personal well-being (said by 61%). By providing a robust benefits package that helps your employees achieve personal well-being, you are delivering the top features employees want from their job. As municipal employers, you need to strike a balance between providing comprehensive coverage while containing costs. Striking that balance means not only keeping up on the changing needs of your employees and retirees, but also the latest tools and resources available to help meet their needs within strict municipal budgets. Make sure your benefits package meets their needs today and tomorrow by looking for the following five key features.

5 Key Features to Look for In Your Benefits Package

1. Innovative Plan Design
The most innovative plans today provide the important benefits employees and their families need while also giving covered individuals options for choosing care. For active employees, plan designs such as site-of- service plans can encourage medical consumerism and use of preferred providers. Other options include high deductible health plans and Health Maintenance Organizations designed to cost less than other plans while still providing comprehensive coverage.

Options for retiree plans have evolved due to changes such as the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the growing popularity of Employer Group Waiver Plans, or EGWPs. For example, HealthTrust’s new Medicare Advantage with Prescription Drug (MAPD) plan, effective January 1, 2025, is an EGWP plan that provides the stable and comprehensive coverage for which Medicare Advantage is known, but has been customized by HealthTrust to include additional benefits and enhancements covered individuals need, including extra covered drugs, hearing and vision services, acupuncture and chiropractic services, while keeping costs low with no deductibles, no coinsurance, and no copayments for most medical services and some generic drugs. The plan includes a nationwide provider network of doctors, specialists and hospitals available without referrals, and an annual maximum out-of-pocket amount of $2,000 for medical and prescription services (excluding extra covered drugs). Most HealthTrust Retirees who enroll in the MAPD plan will enjoy contribution savings of 30-50 percent over their current cost.

2. A Focus on Prevention and Healthy Living
An innovative benefits package should do more than provide the coverage your employees and their family members need when they are sick or injured; it should include the wellness resources they need to prevent health problems and live healthier, more productive lives. Making lifestyle changes and sticking to them isn’t easy. That’s why the most innovative wellness programs now include:

Daily portal updates so there is always something new for participants to learn.

• Meaningful incentives to keep them engaged.
• Tools to encourage both peer and coaching support.
• Rich, diverse, high quality online content that is updated regularly.

HealthTrust’s Slice of Life wellness program, powered by Personify Health (formerly Virgin Pulse), includes new daily health tips, regularly updated articles and videos, personal and group online challenges, multiple online trackers for accountability and earning rewards, a social media platform for participants to share their leaderboards and cheer each other on, and wellness coaching with regular interactions online and by phone. Something for everyone! No surprise that the majority of participants (as much 75%) log in to their wellness portal many times a month, and many log in weekly or daily. 

3. Expert Support When They Need It Most
Wrong diagnoses. Dangerous reactions to medications. Treatment plans that don’t work. These issues lead to costly, sometimes catastrophic medical outcomes and can make individuals feel overwhelmed and alone. A comprehensive benefits package should take advantage of breakthrough technology and programs that can help individuals get the right diagnosis the first time, and provide support and guidance for choosing the best treatment path or medication. At HealthTrust, our medical plans include Well-Being Programs that incorporate the latest tools to address these and other issues. Through Included Health, participants facing a frightening diagnosis can receive support when choosing a treatment plan and get a free second opinion from a top expert in the field anywhere in the country. Our Corigen® Medication Safety Program provides DNA
testing to find the best medications for each individual, based on their genetic profile. We offer a diabetes prevention program (Lark) that follows guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) and allows participants to connect with a health coach and track their progress; those already diagnosed with diabetes can participate in CVS® Transform Diabetes Care® to receive supplies and support to help manage their condition. 

4. Mental Health Services
In a recent report, more than three out of four public sector employees age 35 and younger (76%) described themselves as being “significantly or somewhat stressed” over the past six months. That stress is often compounded by even more serious mental health concerns; in the 2023 Stress in America Survey, almost 1 in 4 respondents said they have been told by a healthcare provider that they have anxiety disorder (24%) or
depression (23%). The increasing prevalence of behavioral health issues in schools, workplaces, and communities has made providing comprehensive mental health resources a priority for all public sector employers, but what resources are best? Some individuals need the privacy, convenience, and 24/7 accessibility of in-home care or online services. For others, referrals to experts in their area work better. Here are some recent innovations to look for when providing behavioral health benefits to your employees.

• Benefits that can be accessed 24/7. The LifeResources EAP available through HealthTrust, for example, provides consultations with Masters-level, licensed clinicians in person, by phone, video counseling, or online chats. It also includes Computerized Cognitive Behavioral Therapy via an app that provides guided programs for help with anxiety, depression, sleep issues, and more.
• Counseling available without leaving their home. Telemedicine programs, such as LiveHealth Online give individuals the option of addressing mental health issues with a professional without leaving the comfort and privacy of their home.
• Services that target specific issues and age groups using tools that work best for them. Substance use disorder programs such as Anthem’s Aspire365 (for individuals age 12 and older), and Aware Recovery Care (for adults age 18 and older) provide in-home, long-term treatment from a multidisciplinary team of experts and have one-year abstinence rates of 70% to 80% respectively. Anthem’s Instride Health program provides treatment for anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder for individuals ages 7 to 22 years old via a fully virtual platform; the program has been shown to be as effective as in-person treatment.

5. Resources to Boost Financial Wellness
A recent survey of more than 1,000 full-time state and local government employees found that 88 percent worry about their finances, and of those, 77 percent report doing so while at work. Ongoing student debt, lack of retirement or emergency savings, and other financial concerns are among the issues keeping many public employees up at night and distracted at work. As a municipal employer, providing resources to help your employees get their finances on track may help improve their overall well-being, make them more productive at work, and enhance your workplace culture. 

Try teaming with your local bank or credit union to provide seminars and trainings on saving and investment strategies and ways to pay down debt. Look for an EAP that provides consultations with financial experts,
as well as online tools such as mortgage calculators, retirement planning programs, and creating and sticking to a budget. For example, the Life-Resources EAP available through HealthTrust in collaboration with ComPsych Guidance Resources includes access to financial planners and Certified Public Accountants for free consultations, as well as valuable online financial tools through the WellthSource program.

It’s Never Too Late: Educate!

Finally, remember that the benefits you provide will only help your employees if they understand and know how to use those benefits. Work together with your benefits provider to offer webinars, workshops and other
trainings to make sure your employees are aware of the valuable benefits you offer and how to access them. If your municipality is a HealthTrust Member, keep in mind that you can contact your HealthTrust Benefits
and Wellness Advisors to arrange a training customized to your employees’ needs. Serving our Members and Covered Individuals is HealthTrust’s number one priority.

Laura McCarthy is the CommunicationsSpecialist at HealthTrust.