Straight From the Horse’s Mouth: Employer Success Stories – Part 3

Miss part one and two of our employer success story series? Find part one here and part two here.

Gravie has a track record for helping employers offer competitive benefits, save money and eliminate hassle. But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s part 3 of 3 three success stories from businesses like yours that made the switch to Gravie. Success Story #3: Total Cost Reduction and Happier Employees

Like many small businesses, Minnesota-based Elder-Jones, a leader in general contracting services in 49 states, Canada and Puerto Rico, has long struggled with the challenges of employer sponsored group health coverage. High costs and limited choices with no end in sight drove the company to find a better alternative.

Elder-Jones’ management transitioned employees out of traditional group insurance and into the individual market, with the help of Gravie and its full suite of services. Dennis Hill, Vice President of Finance, says that while there was an initial learning curve for both the company and for the employees, the transition has been overwhelmingly positive.

Their story may sound familar to you, and its one that we hear from employers time and time again. Elder-Jones was dealing with rising costs each year, yet failing to deliver the right benefits for their employees. (Read more about this in our post: Are Your Employees Parked in a Group Health Plan Wasteland?). They welcomed an approach that would help them rein in costs, while at the same time provide their employees with access to benefits that better met their individual needs. 

To solve these problems, they moved to Gravie’s model of using the individual market for employee health benefits. Hill reports that, with Gravie’s help, employees are typically spending substantially less – half the amount – of their own money on benefits in the individual market (Elder-Jones’ contribution toward health insurance has remained flat) because the plans that Gravie is identifying are less expensive. On average, the total cost of the plans employees bought with Gravie were 24% cheaper than the total cost of plans with their former group insurance coverage.

Beyond saving money, employees have many more options to pick a “best fit” plan. In the group model, Elder-Jones offered 3 plan options. With Gravie, employees were offered more choice (104 plans within Gravie’s marketplace) and chose 18 unique plans. What’s more, Hill says that most of the plans employees are selecting in the individual market offer richer benefits than the previous group plan.

In addition to very satisfied employees, Hill reports that the shift has eliminated time spent on administering a benefits program allowing them to focus on their business. This represents another significant upside to the Gravie way.

To sum it all up for Elder Jones:

Problem:

• High costs and limited choices with group health insurance plan
• No end in sight for rate increases

Solution:

• Employees chose from 104 different plans with Gravie, compared to 3 on the previous group plan
• Employees chose 24% less expensive plans, so the employer picks up greater share of the cost
• Removed administrative burden by dropping group and moving to Gravie

Gravie’s a front runner in the changing benefits game and your business could be our next success story. For more information email us at info@gravie.com, call us at 844.540.8701, or tweet us @gogravie.