Shawnee Love   •  
March 28, 2013

If you are currently shopping your benefits or contemplating adding a benefits program and investigating options and costs, take heed.

Benefits carriers are not all alike.  Like all industries, there is a lot of variation in style and philosophy to put it kindly. There are some I like to work with because they make decisions based on what is smart in the long term i.e., they care about the relationship with their clients- companies like yours! And, then there are others that have their noses so far up their shareholders butts that the almighty buck and getting the next sale take precedence over long term relationships with good customers.  They know it is a hassle to change benefits providers once you realize you have been scammed and you are usually locked in for at least a year anyway, so they figure the pain of switching in a year will outweigh the fact that they weren’t up front with you in the beginning.

One tactic of these providers is the “marketing discount” also known in my world as “buying” your business.  Beware, because once you have signed up and locked in, you will discover that the prices hurdle upward year over year. I am a capitalist so I am okay with prices going up because of inflation or because the going rate has gone up due to added value or as a function of supply and demand, but I can’t support prices going up simply because choices are limited (hope you are listening Rogers, Telus & Bell).

When it comes to benefits, good value means fair coverage at fair prices.   When researching providers, amongst all the other stuff you want to ask, ensure you get this question answered:

What is your track record of cost increases for clients year over year?

Ensure they can explain to your satisfaction why any significant increases have occurred by benefit they are quoting.  The good providers will and you don’t want to work with the bad ones anyway.

We’d love to hear from you on your benefits experiences.  Please comment.