Increases in health insurance premiums are common, but that won’t be the case for MFA Oil employees in 2022. Janice Serpico, chief human resources officer, credits the company’s ability to manage its claims better than expected as the primary reason insurance rates will remain flat.
“It’s a testament to our employees and their focus on health and wellness,” Serpico says when explaining how the company avoided increased health insurance premiums.
Compared to the prior year, emergency rooms visits were down 26%, preventive care visits increased 12%, and telemedicine visits were up 225%. Serpico says all three factors “contributed to our ability to maintain our current costs.”
Health claims from MFA Oil employees came in under budget but were still up $507,000 year-over-year.
“The majority of those costs are for medical care or prescriptions,” Serpico says. “But even with the increase over last year, we’re doing better from a cost-per-employee standpoint than national trends show.”
Serpico encourages employees to continue leveraging telemedicine, primary care, and urgent care visits over emergency room visits unless the situation is truly an emergency. Doing so helps the company better manage its healthcare expenditures. Likewise, she recommends taking advantage of wellness visits and opting for generic medication options, when possible, to limit costs further.
The annual open enrollment period will begin October 25 and run through November 5. There will be no changes to the health benefits offered this year compared to last year. More information about open enrollment benefit options will be shared by the Human Resources Department in the coming months.