Optimize Your Team Sustainability,
Minimize Isurance Costs
(Top-Viewed at Forbes CEO Network)
Do you know that you can self-insure and save more if your company has over 1000 employees?
Health insurance costs about $300 per person per month. Your company can use the at least
$3,600,000/year to handle MOST catastrophic health issues, chronic illnesses or worker’s
compensation. You can also save the budget to boost your business or team if you can minimize
the self-insurance costs.
You can raise deductible, or restrict enrollment or coverage. You can also use win-win strategies
with your educated and motivated team to avoid costly health mistakes, reduce doctor visits,
shorten hospital stays, bring injured back to work fast, and, ultimately, achieve more. If it is not a good time to self-insure, the same method will minimize your insurance premium efficiently.
and Absenteeism?” It is the same synergy with different focuses. Let me first share a personal story:
My mother and I were involved in a tragic auto-accident. Although she did not have any health
issues prior, she could not get off a ventilator after five weeks of intensive care. Her ICU
physicians "concluded" that she would be ventilator dependent for the rest of her life; my mother
refused to live on a machine. I had never doubted the ICU physicians, my own as well at that
time. At the last moment, I chose to do my own assessment and found she did not breathe
efficiently. Through a new way of breathing I taught her, my mother was taken off the ventilator
successfully after only three days.
Later in her rehab, the Neurosurgeon and ICU physicians did not think that double vision, car
fear, pain, depression and physical independence mattered much; rehab experts predicted her
a very poor recovery. Regardless, we have tried many kinds of relaxation methods and worked
with many specialists, including acupuncture and herbs. My mother has been able to shop,
cook, talk, laugh independently again, and reminds me of my tax return!
The 5 wks ICU care cost about $210,000, equal to $6000/day. The total costs of ICU +rehab +
surgeries, excluding daily nursing care (my family took care of her), were about $270,000. How
much more money, time and effort would it have cost had my mother have to live on a ventilator
as the ICU MDs “concluded?” How much more money, time and effort would it have cost had
she remained disabled as the rehab experts “predicted?”
To achieve the above requires the basic and comprehensive health knowledge, independent
thinking and a clear mind under any level of stress, which is different from regular wellness
programs. The standard training programs take 1-4 days.
HEALTH:
As U.S. health costs have soared from 7.2% of the gross domestic product in 1970 to 16% in
2005, maybe 20% of GDP by 2015, it has become a bigger and bigger burden to offer health
benefits. Most wellness management offers mainly weight loss, smoking cessation and pre-natal
care. However, this neither brings our well being to the optimal level nor protects us well from
bad habits, wrong beliefs, stress, infectious diseases and more. A WebMD study indicates that
one health risk reduction can improve that person’s presenteeism by 9% and reduce absenteeism
by 2%.
There is almost no active consumer participation, but management, consulting and 24hr call by
nurses, MDs and others. From the above story, you can tell how we handle illnesses on our own,
including what specialists to use, can mean life or death, recovery or disability, hundreds of
thousands dollars differences. There are many other costly but avoidable mistakes when we are
well, ill, injured or in an emergency, besides weight and smoking.
Staying healthy means efficient and stable productivity, less insurance and other associated
costs. The standard
Comprehensive Health Program teaches the general tools in 2 days.
DISABILITY:
When injured or disabled, people have to face the attorneys who can care more about financial outcomes, and the recovery progress that can be depressingly slow, besides the MDs who
can give wrong conclusions and predictions. Due to many sudden changes, both physical and
psychological, victims are usually under tremendous stress that can affect their thinking and
prevent them from properly participating in their recoveries.
Rehab can be done in a cost-effective way with a rewarding outcome to society, businesses,
insurance companies and our injured. A big part of rehabilitation is thorough stress
management and to help people keep a clear mind. Another part is to sharpen their insights
of self, their attorneys and MDs; strengthen their internal power; and teach them how to seek
additional help if needed and follow good recovery models. It is a huge difference to everyone
to bring a person back to work fast or pay him/her worker’s compensation. The standard
Stress to Recovery Program takes 2 days.
STRESS:
Most people know that workplace stress has been the No. 1 cause of turnover, per a Watson Wyatt’s survey; and that stress costs U.S. corporations $300 billion annually in
medical costs, turnover and absenteeism, according to American Institute of Stress. Years
of studies at Harvard have proven that stress can not only worsen many existing health
problems, but also cause new cognitive, psychological and physical symptoms. Without
good stress management, people can have more stroke or heart attack, eat fast food with
more weight gain or go back to drugs when stressed out.
A good stress management is more than limited relaxation, but offers different management
tools at different stages, including efficient underlying problems solving. We can learn to
utilize stress, prevent stress, stay sharp and young, and walk from stress to success. The
standard program takes 2 days.
MIND:
I would have lost my mother had I not questioned my own ICU physicians. Blindly following authorities figures, like MDs and Attorneys, is the most dangerous state of mind, for they
may not be right due to their own limitations. It takes education besides faith to break this
self-imposed limit.
Denial is one common reason why many treatments are first delayed, then prolonged and
eventually cost hundreds of thousands to millions dollars more. The common examples are
myocardial infarction and stroke. Not to mention the negative affect from low self-esteem,
self-doubt, fear and anxiety. How much we know and can see in ourselves and society not
covers all of the above.
OTHER ISSUES & BENEFITS:
In addition to micro education to your team, macro management is also essential in
self-insurance--you need follow up with your state and federal regulations, the outcome of
your team, as well as the performance of your vendors. Fortunately, this part is not hard.
According to Harris, actual illness only accounts for 35% unexpected Absenteeism; the
other 65% includes Family Issues (21%), Personal Needs (18%), Entitlement Mentality
(14%) and Stress (12%). Since your team can use the above training on themselves, loved
ones, customers and colleagues, the efficient problems resolving will not only further reduce
your absenteeism, but also strengthen your business and team spirits. Everyone can enjoy
personal and institutional benefit at the same time.
SUMMARY
Productivity, stress, health and disability are inter-related. Comprehensive training
programs and management can not only optimize your team’s productivity and sustainability,
but also minimize your self-insurance costs or insurance premium in the long run. Each
institution has its unique needs and priority; follow-ups can further enhance the overall
achievement.