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Things an Organisation Can Do to Fight the Rise in Group Mediclaim Premiums

 

Ravi Shankar Dubey has achieved something for his company, “Dubey Fashion Corporation” which many businessmen struggle: He has successfully lowered the premium rates of his company’s health insurance policy. Though the dip isn’t huge; he has managed to cut the premium rates without compromising on the coverage.

As group health insurance premiums may likely to increase, many companies are looking for ways to control premium rates without withdrawing the coverage.

If you’re struggling to provide health insurance to your employees, here are some ways through which you can reduce your group mediclaim policies cost:

Keep employees healthy

Here the overall idea is to keep employees and their families in the pink of health. When an employee or his/her family is in a good health state, there are fewer chances of approaching the insurer.

1. Support regular fitness= There is no denying to the fact that regular physical activity helps in the overall health and wellness by controlling weight and reducing the risk of various cardiovascular ailments. While, you can’t force your employees to hit the gym on a regular basis, you can make some provisions or encourage them to go for it. Understanding that they are busy and want to relax, you should make it as easy as possible like, have a separate fitness room with basic equipment. If space is the problem, give your employees some discounts on local gyms in their area.
2. Boost healthy eating options= The second major factor of healthy living is healthy eating. You can start offering healthy food options in your canteen. Once or twice, you can ask your employees to bring something healthy food at the office and have a team lunch. It will not only encourage healthy habits among employees but will also go a long way in building team spirit.
3. Encourage vaccination, especially among senior older employees= Gone are those days when employees could work comfortably until the age of 55 or 60 without any major health issues and then retire comfortably with a pension. Now, in the current financial climate, many people are working beyond 60 years of age as well.

If you have an aging workforce, it is the time to be extra careful. As your body ages, your immunity system also changes and it increases your risk of getting flue and airborne ailments. While, you should take steps to take care of the health of all your employees, make a concentrated effort to ensure that your older workforce is properly vaccinated.

4. Start healthy games= Some people look for a little prod than others. For such employees, you can start some ‘healthy games’. Most employees thrive on competition, and therefore, they can respond better to such initiatives. Asking employees to go for 30 minutes exercising five days a week is a different task but rewarding those employees who consecutively do this, is another. So come up with games which are challenging and also encourage healthy competition among employees.
5. Organise a medical camp= A group health insurance policy covers families of employees as well. So to ensure their health, you can organise a health camp and aware them about the various ways to stay in good health. Also, medical professionals can give some useful health tips. Though some of these tips may be obvious; it will infuse good health habits among employees and their families.

Review your insurance policy

When you have taken all steps to ensure the good health of your employees, the next is to work on the insurance front

1. Reduce coverage= Cutting mediclaim insurance coverage is a logical step which you can consider taking. However, be ready to face your employees protest who will not like this idea. Still, if you want to go ahead, you can opt to exclude features like dental, vision coverages from your policy. However, before trimming the coverage, talk to your employees to know what they want to be covered and what can be excluded.
2. Increase deductible= You can increase the deductible or co-payment amount of your employees, which will help in bringing down the health insurance premium amount. A deductible is an amount, which an employee would require to pay upfront before the insurer settles the claim. Similarly, co-payment means, an employee will also share the part of a claim. By increasing co-payment and deductible amounts, you can ensure that employees do not make unnecessary claims.
3. Go online= Don’t make a mistake of renewing your group health insurance without comparing the available options. There are various group health insurance companies in India offering coverage with exciting features at affordable premium rates. You can easily find such group insurers who may be offering extensive coverage at a price lower than what you are paying now. You can know about these policies only by comparing them. If comparing and choosing the right group health insurance seems to be a mammoth task, you can take the help of corporate insurance advisors like SecureNow, which can help you find and choose the right group health insurance as per your requirements. In a matter of seconds, you can get deeply research insurance options obtained from various insurers.
4. Negotiate hard= Many companies think that the notice of their group mediclaim insurance renewal is final— something set in stone. Though health insurers will cite reasons for a premium hike, like everyone is getting a year older or last year, the firm had a bunch of claims. But there are certain factors that one can put in front of the insurance company, like a number of claimants left the company or healthy habits initiatives adopted by the company, etc.

Remember, a group health insurance policy is a great way to insure the health of employees and their families, and it is a perk which is valued by employees, so act diligently before curbing the cover.

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