Attn HALL85

[The SHUttle]

'85,

You have made mention here numerous times that you work in the healthcare industry. I'm a little interested to hear what side of the game you are on. I am on the employer side of benefits management so I'm always looking for new contacts to trade experiences with on the various aspects of benefits - especially those with connections to dear old Seton Hall. My employer is a fairly large and growing (internationally mostly) apparel company who currently has the self-insured medical plans as grandfathered.

We're constantly reviewing our benefits offerings so it certainly makes life interesting. What do you do?

 

[HALL85]

Shuttle, are you saying I repeat myself?? LOL...OK, it's an age thing.


I'm on the commercial end of a fairly large (global) diagnostic manufacturer and distributor that sells into the healthcare and research markets. I don't pretend to be an expert on benefits, but obviously have an interest because it does impact our business if utilization goes up or down. I get the opportunity to see a number of presentations of so-called experts and there is so much uncertainty about where this is all going. One prevailing thought is that the industry and consumer will migrate to "skinny" plans (bad pun)...high deductable, out-of-pocket...lowest possible premium forcing the consumer to use less healthcare.


Actually, one of neighbors and good friends is a VP of HR for a large Pharma company, so he's been in interesting source of how they are handling changes. One thing they have done is reconfigured prices in their cafeteria, charging more for unhealthy choices and discounting things like salads, non-sugar drinks, etc.


Always happy to connect and network....you can email me at PJCAST@aol.com if you want to connect and talk further.