A major freight and logistics company based in the Midwest saw rising health insurance premiums for  its workforce of around 20,000. With employee health and well-being as a top priority, their benefit  management company looked for opportunities to reduce costs while ensuring their employees still  received high-quality benefits and service. 

Solution

The freight company contacted the SmartConnect team, which specializes in seeking innovative ways  to lower costs without sacrificing the quality of coverage. Knowing that older employees are remaining  in the workforce — 25.5 million workers are between the ages of 55-64 with an additional 10 million  over the age of 65 — the SmartConnect solution serves as a trusted Medicare advocate for HR teams,  benefit professionals and a company’s employees.  

Working with the employer’s benefits team, SmartConnect provided education and information to  employees about utilizing Medicare benefits rather than group coverage. In many cases, employees  realize direct savings by transitioning to more cost-effective benefits through Medicare programs  designed specifically for those over the age of 65 (or Medicare eligible). 

A dedicated, in-house team of SmartConnect agents made the process easy, with on-going advocacy  extending into retirement which saved hours of time and effort for the employers and employees.

Results

A single employee and their spouse contribution cost this retailer an average of $615.90 a month, while  just an employee contribution cost the employer $277.53. While using the SmartConnect Active Plus  offering, the retailer transitioned 40 individuals off their group coverage, saving on average $5,360.58  per individual annually. Their total savings for all employees was $214,423.20.