Employers now demand brokers show exactly where health-care dollars go, especially pharmacy spend, and prove they can access rebates or low-cost options at the point of purchase. Old broker relationships resist change, and many employers expect returns from level-funded plans in three to five years despite limited evidence that timeline works.
Where do you think employers are shifting from how they're challenging benefit advisors right now or questions they may be asking that they weren't asking 5 to 10 years ago? Do you see employers starting to push back a little saying, "Hey, you want my business, you need to come on in with a different idea"?
Yeah, I do. I do. Here's the thing though, like, luckily enough for us, I get that out of the way. I think it's more that we're able to control it because I'm asking them like, "What are you doing about this?" Like, what are you doing around cost containment? You know, when's the last time you sat down and understood the data? You know, the information, what's actually happening? Where, where is your money going? Like, what are the controllables? What is your top 10 pharmacy spend? How do you know, have you been able to access, you know, rebates or programs to get your employees, you know, low to no cost options at the actual purchase point, right? So when you start asking them and they understand, you're like, okay, this guy knows what he's talking about. I think it's the opposite side for us because we're already there and we're already having this conversation. It's getting the opposite side of it. It's getting the employer to actually be willing to listen to like something might actually be better out there. So I think that would be more of a challenge for us is someone that has been a business owner for 100 years and it's the third generation. And well, the third generation went through Vistage with another broker. So that's just, you know, it's the good old boy network. And because of that, they just believe that whatever they say is gold. And they're now in this new thing called Level Funded. And I'm like, okay, so tell me more. Well, we have the opportunity to like get money back. And I'm like, tell me more. Well, they said that if we run well, and I'm like, you know, and I keep going down the pipeline. I'm like, well, what have you seen Well, it's been 3 years and they say it normally takes 3 to 5 years to see a return.
Okay, right.
So, you know, it's just one of those and you get them to believe like, guys, we can make an impact in the first 90 days. And here's what you should be seeing. And here's the reports. Like, have you gone over? Well, no. But then it's like the scared, like, whoa, wait a minute, this is too much. And it, which to your point, Andy, it's pretty alarming on how much we hear complaints of what healthcare costs and, you know, all this, but the unwillingness, to your point, of the buyer to educate themselves on what it actually means and how they can actually impact it. They want to complain of what it costs, but very few are willing to take— do what it takes and educate and actually walk alongside a broker and a good, good strategy in order to make it work long term.
