Changing the mindset of benefit brokers who are accustomed to all the misaligned incentives of U.S. healthcare is by far the biggest obstacle to fixing a perverse and opaque system that places profits ahead of patients. They measure their book of business in dollars or covered lives. It’s easy to be tantalized by generous commissions and revenue-sharing arrangements with service providers. It’s also hard to break with tradition — a reticence driven by fear of the unknown.
Those who continue to resist change, however, actually run the risk of losing their employer clients. Corporate HR and benefit professionals increasingly expect transparent pricing not only on medical services for their employees in group health benefits but also the advice they receive. Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, all direct and indirect compensation schemes for health and welfare benefits must be reported.
