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V O L . X X I I N O. X I H E A LT H Y B U S I N E S S 20 L ike a lot of small business owners, when Nancy Marshall went to renew the health insurance policy for her 14 employees last fall, she was in for some serious sticker shock. Deductibles were jumping from $500 to $2,500 for individual employees. "Premiums were going to go up sig- nifi cantly so I started shopping around," says Marshall, CEO of the public relations fi rm that bears her name. She switched to a plan that would allow her to keep the $500 deductible. "It just seemed worth it to make the switch." While Marshall knew staff would appreciate dodging the major price hike, since they were changing health insurance providers for the fi rst time in seven years, she took pains to com- municate the changes with her staff - ers, meeting with them repeatedly to explain what the changes would mean. "Any time there's a change that aff ects their pocketbooks, it's unnerv- ing," says Marshall. "We just wanted to reassure them that actually this would be better for them." Indeed, Marshall was one of a num- ber of small business owners making the change this year as the cost of providing health insurance is rising faster than ever. Nearly half of all employers that off er health benefi ts shopped around for a new health plan in the past year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefi t Survey. Smaller employers were more likely to shop around than larger fi rms. All told, 24% of fi rms changed insurance carriers. It's no wonder. Health insurance premium renewal rates increased by 6.2% for all plans in 2015, up from a 5.6% rise the previous year, according to a survey by United Benefi t Advisors, an Indianapolis-based employee benefi t advisory fi rm. Small businesses with 25 employees or less were hit the hardest. HR directors shopping around Karen Dobbyn, a human resources consultant with KMA Human Resources Consulting in Falmouth, says jumps from $500 to $2,500 that Marshall was facing are typical of other increases she has seen this year. "I defi nitely see employers shop- ping around more than they have in the past," Dobbyn says. "Health care costs are so expensive. Regardless of how fi nancially successful employ- ers are, health insurance is often their biggest business expenses. So they're always trying to fi nd the most reason- able costs for the level of benefi t." Communication is a huge problem. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 80%, of organizations reported that partici- pants in benefi t plans don't open or read communications materials, 49% don't understand the materials, and 31% don't perceive the value of their benefi ts. She urges companies to work with an insurance brokers, who can help fi nd the lower rates, and nego- tiate lower rates. Many brokers are also willing to come help employ- ers explain plan changes to staff and bring in representatives from the insurance companies, for one-on-one conferences with employees who don't feel comfortable asking questions in big group meetings. Dobbyn urges employers to send information about plan changes to employees as early as possible, through email, printed material and other avail- able channels. "You don't want your employees to be surprised because you didn't give them the information or the employee didn't understand," Dobbyn says. She also urges employers to make sure that the information gets home to the employee's spouse or partner, in case the spouse or partner will be the one making the decision about chang- ing coverage. Emily Brostek, executive director for Consumers for Aff ordable Health Care, says that her nonprofi t fi elds many calls to its free help line from workers who are confused about their coverage and their health care costs. She urges employers to sit down with employees individually to fi nd out what health insurance benefi ts they value the most. "Just having that dialogue is an important place to start, especially if you're thinking about a change," Brostek says. "You can't always give employees everything that they want. But at least you can fi nd out what's important P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Shifting policies Employees unnerved by changes in insurance coverage B y J e n n i f e r V a n A l l e n Nancy Marshall, CEO of Nancy Marshall Communications, in her offi ce in Augusta.

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