Free new tool helps employers eliminate inequitable benefit design and promote workplace DEI
MyHealthMath today announced a new health benefits equity audit to help employers optimize their benefit design to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Employers can use the audit to learn whether employees across income levels and demographics have an equal opportunity to choose a cost-effective health plan.
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Traditional common benefit designs are often inequitable, a fact unrecognized by many. Lower wage earners are more likely to overpay for health insurance—by as much as $1,700 per year according to one recent study. Overpaying for health insurance makes it difficult for people to afford healthcare and save for retirement. By striking at both health and wealth, this inequity is particularly pernicious in its disparate impact on the historically disadvantaged.
The health benefits equity audit compares relative health care cost (as a percentage of income) across employee demographics. It can help employers understand:
- How their benefit design affects plan choice for employees depending on their income level and demographics
- Accessibility of Health Savings Accounts across income brackets
- Mitigation strategies that address unrecognized benefit design barriers to health and wealth equity
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“Employers can make a big and sustainable impact on workplace DEI just by eliminating inequitable benefit design,” says MyHealthMath Chief Mission Officer, Elizabeth Cote, MD, MPH. “We know people are overbuying health insurance; we know this adversely affects health and wealth outcomes; and we know lower wage earners are disproportionately minorities and members of other disadvantaged groups. By taking an equity lens to their plan design, employers can affect real change among their employee populations.”