Text us your comments or topic ideas for future shows. Something new is coming. We’re building the next chapter of The KeyHire Small Business Podcast. More practical conversations, new perspectives, and more ways to help business owners grow. Keep an eye on this space. We’ll share more soon. You might be in the widget business, the plumbing business, or the car business. You are also in the health insurance business, whether you like it or not. If benefits feel like a giant expense you shop for once a year, hand off, and hope your people appreciate, this episode will change how you think about it. On this episode of The KeyHire Small Business Podcast, Corey Harlock sits down with Bill Hammett, owner of Hammett Health Insurance Services and a certified healthcare reform specialist with over 20 years of experience, to talk about how small business owners can turn employee benefits from a painful line item into a powerful investment. Early on, Bill makes a point that reframes the entire conversation: since World War II, Americans get their health insurance through their employers, which means every business owner, whether they sell widgets, plumbing, or cars, is also in the health insurance business whether they like it or not. From there, Corey and Bill dig into what actually moves the needle on cost, coverage, and employee loyalty. One of the biggest ideas in this episode is that you are not really shopping for health insurance, you are shopping for brokers. Bill explains that the underlying product is largely a commodity, so the real difference comes from the broker's strategy, process, and advocacy. He walks through how larger companies can move beyond fully insured plans into level funding or self funding, taking on some risk in exchange for real savings, and why prescription drug costs have exploded from three percent of premiums in the late 90s to roughly 25 percent today. What makes this conversation especially valuable is the shift from buying more benefits to understanding the benefits you already have. Bill and Corey explore practical, low cost strategies any owner can use: mail order pharmacy programs that deliver a three month supply for the price of two, generic drugs, telehealth, urgent care versus the emergency room, and asking for pre authorizations to stay in network. As Bill puts it, before you buy the 17th line of coverage, make sure your people understand benefits one through 16. The most powerful takeaway may be treating benefits as compensation, not an HR expense. If you pay someone $80,000 and spend another $15,000 to $20,000 on benefits, you do not have an $80,000 employee, you have a six figure investment. Corey and Bill discuss how communicating that investment, even building an incentive around keeping premiums low, can boost retention, help you win candidates, and turn employees into educated healthcare consumers who assign real value to what you provide. For small business owners weighing the seven candidate drivers during hiring, benefits have moved to the top of the list post COVID. This episode is a must listen for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and HR leaders who feel stuck with rising premiums, confused by open enrollment, or unsure whether their broker is truly working for them. Bill also shares how to pressure test your current broker and offers to share his Leave No Stone Unturned presentation with listeners. If you want to lower benefits costs, keep more money in your business, and make your team feel genuinely taken care of, tune in for a clear, surprisingly engaging conversation that proves benefits do not have to be shackles you are simply stuck with. KEY TAKEAWAYS You are not shopping for health insurance, you are shopping for brokers: the product itself is a commodity, and a dozen agents can quote you the same plan at the same price. The difference is the broker's process, their opinion, and the strategy behind how they bring it to your employees. Above about 50 employees in California, and in some places down to two, the funding model becomes a lever: level funding and self funding let employers take on some of the risk the carriers have been profiting from for decades. The upside is real, and so is the downside, so the cash question comes first: if two major claims hit in January and you are out $150,000 on two people, can the business absorb it? Prescription drugs went from roughly 3% of premium in the late 90s to about 25% today: it is the fastest escalating piece of the medical premium, and it is where a lot of the recoverable dollars are hiding for employers who look, from rebates to sourcing medication differently. There should always be a second set of eyes on your benefits: a strategy your broker believes in will stand up to questioning and alternate quotes. If your broker is your brother-in-law, your neighbor, or your buddy from college and nothing has changed in years, the likely reason is that nobody is shopping it, because moving a policy is far more work than telling you everything looks good. Benefits are compensation, not an HR expense: if you pay $80,000 and spend another $15,000 to $20,000 on benefits, you do not have an $80,000 employee, you have a six figure investment. Two companies offering $90,000 are not making the same offer when one can show another $18,000 going into that person's family, and most employees only ever see the $200 coming out of their check, not the $1,000 the employer puts in on top of it. Sometimes the answer is not better benefits, it is better understanding of the benefits you already bought: mail order pharmacy that delivers a three month supply for the price of two, generic drugs, telehealth including telehealth for mental health, knowing where the nearest urgent care is instead of defaulting to the emergency room, and asking the doctor for pre authorization to stay in network. Before you buy the 17th line of coverage, make sure your people understand benefits one through 16. An educated healthcare consumer behaves differently: they pick a plan that actually fits, they know where to go when something goes wrong, and they assign a higher value to what you are paying for. Same plan, same price, but the educated employee is healthier, happier, and more appreciative than the one down the street who got no education at all. Corey floats an incentive line around benefits: tell the team what the company spent last year, and if next year comes in flat, everyone shares in the savings. If premiums had climbed 10% instead, that money was going out the door anyway, and now your people are working the problem with you instead of resenting the deduction. Confusion has a hard cost: unnecessary ER visits, avoided care that was actually necessary, the wrong plan selected at enrollment. It costs the employer, the employee, time, and health. And after you spend all that effort winning a candidate over, handing them a 47 page booklet is not onboarding, it is homework. LINKS & RESOURCES Connect with Bill Hammett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billhammett/ Learn more about Hammett Health Insurance Services: https://www.hammetthealth.com Follow Bill on Instagram for his Monday benefit breakdowns and Friday healthcare policy recaps: @healthcarebill Ask Bill for his Leave No Stone Unturned presentation: text the show using the link in the show notes and we will connect you Connect with Corey Harlock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyharlock/ Learn more about KeyHire Solutions: https://www.keyhire.solutions Subscribe on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-keyhire-small-business-podcast/id1643962763 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1FT9oqXSek3jMfiKrZPLQs EPISODE CHAPTERS 0:00 – Introduction: do your people know what you actually invest in their benefits? 1:42 – A teaser about what is coming for the podcast, plus Tony Manganiello and Barry Moline recaps 4:33 – Meet Bill Hammett: owner of Hammett Health Insurance Services and certified healthcare reform specialist 5:30 – Every business is in the health insurance business, whether they like it or not 6:44 – The product is a commodity, so you are really shopping for brokers 7:35 – Fully insured versus level funded and self funded, and where strategy moves cost 8:55 – Prescription drugs: from 3% of premium in the late 90s to 25% today 10:15 – What happens if a catastrophic claim hits a self funded plan 11:27 – The loyal team that got older, got sick, and could not get quoted 13:43 – Negotiating hospital bills and becoming a consumer of your own healthcare 15:23 – When your broker is your buddy and nobody is shopping the policy 16:47 – The seven candidate drivers, benefit stipends, and why benefits now lead the list 19:15 – Benefits as compensation: the six figure employee nobody talks about 20:34 – Put the benefits number in your all hands meeting, and the dentist goodie bag story 22:33 – Making it a quarterly conversation about our investment in you 23:50 – Mail order pharmacy, education, and benefits one through 16 25:33 – Building an incentive line around keeping premiums flat 26:35 – Why an educated healthcare consumer behaves differently 28:12 – The real cost of healthcare confusion
