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America Out Loud PULSE: Employer Based Health Insurance

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From my America Out Loud Pulse podcast with Matt Ohrt –https://www.americaoutloud.news/matt-ohrt-healthcare-policy-from-an-insurance-agent/

Medical care is expensive. Hospitals can cost anywhere from $1,305/day, to $4,181/day depending on the state where you live. The top reason that non-elderly adults do not have health insurance is that they cannot afford it. Worse, half of insured adults say they have trouble affording health costs. To save money on prescription drugs, 20 percent of folks either don’t fill the prescription, use over-the-counter medicines, skipped doses, or cut pills in half.

Two-thirds of Americans have private health insurance and the remainder have public health insurance. Nearly half of Americans receive health insurance through an employer. According to Aon, a business consultant, projects that the average healthcare costs for U.S. employers will increase 8.5% in 2024 to more than $15,000 per employee. Aon suggests that given the tight labor market, employers will absorb the increased cost rather than raise the employees’ contribution – that is already several thousands in premiums, deductibles, and copays. But we are asleep at the wheel. According to Forbes, employees spend 18 minutes selecting their benefits, and 42 percent wait until the last minute to enroll.

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban , the co-founder of the discount drug program, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., “[CEOs] waste a sh-tload of money on less than quality care for their employees, and more often than not it’s their sickest and lowest paid employees that subsidize the rebates and deductibles.” Until we can move to a system where financing healthcare is not tied to the employer, employers have to take the lead in reducing costs.

Bio

Throughout his career, Matt Ohrt has served as an influential executive leader, working for companies such as Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Badger Mining (#1 Great Place to Work in America awards), and as the Vice President of HR for Merrill Steel in Schofield, WI. While at Merrill Steel in Wisconsin, he led the company on a healthcare transformation journey to implement a multitude of healthcare services at no cost to employees and their families, such as onsite clinics, a mobile clinic (converted ambulance), physical therapy, chiropractic, MRI, bundled orthopedic surgeries, and a world-class wellness program. He has received numerous awards for his healthcare innovations. In 2018 Matt founded the Healthcare Best Practice Group. He has written a book about his plan, Save Your Company, Don’t Feed the Beast – The Employer Healthcare Success Formula.

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