Humana 2001 Annual Report Download - page 9

As an employer with 1 4 , 5 0 0 associates in approximately 3 0
states, Humana understands other employe r s ’ frustration with
rising healthcare costs. To address the issue, employers have
limited options: drop coverage, absorb the costs, pass premium
i n c r eases on to their employees, reduce benefits or offer
e m p l oyees flexibility to balance their benefits and their costs,
giving them the information they need to help them spend
their healthcare dollars more wisely.
The healthcare system does not pay physicians or employers
to educate consumers about purchasing a health plan. We
b e l i e ve that’s our role as a health benefits company: to prov i d e
information and serve as a guide through the complexities of
the healthcare system. Humana is focused on supplying
e f f e c t i v e, easy-to-understand processes, flawless performance
of the transactional “basics” of health insurance, ensuring
security and privacy of personal health information, and less
hassle and more help with healthcare decisions, without
dictating choices for consumers.
We’ve developed industr y-leading electronic self-service
capabilities and an expansive range of products. Pr i m a ry among
them is Sm a rt Su i t eS M , created in 2 0 0 1 as an innova t i v e effort
to balance choice and cost control. It’s a Web-enabled, first-of-
its-kind health benefits package that allows employers to select
f rom one of four plan bundles, each containing up to six
benefits plans. Em p l o yees choose one of those plans, based on
their health and budget needs, with the help of an online
“w i z a r d” that guides them through the plan options while
ranking the plans based on the employe e’s pre f e re n c e s .
In n ova t i v e products supported by technology are the
cornerstone of Hu m a n a’s strategy. This approach to our business
is the primary reason we we re able to forge new part n e r s h i p s
with customers such as General Electric. GE employees in
Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin became Humana members
largely because we impressed GE with our industry - l e a d i n g
a p p r oach to health-benefit design.
Among the broad range of Hu m a n a’s health plan choices
a r e options that va r y widely in price, with traditional lowe r -
deductible plans, new lowe r - p r emium plans with higher
deductibles and plans with health spending accounts.
Em p l oyees who choose these plans pay considerably lower
p remium prices in exchange for sharing more in the costs of
h e a l t h c a r e they use – an option that makes sense for many
e m p l o yees and their families.
For employers squeezed by rising healthcare costs, the new
p r oducts signal the start of a transition in our industry, from a
defined-benefit environment, where employers choose benefits
for their workers, to an environment where employers begin
to stabilize their premium contributions. The transition means
that individuals will have the opportunity to better manage
their healthcare spending. Em p l oyees will share re s p o n s i b i l i t y
for the implications of their decisions, and employers will
not have to absorb all of the cost associated with rising
h e a l t h c a r e prices.
o r dination with their doctors, they can make informed decisions at the medical care system’s
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