The amount of funding you put into your healthcare account is another lever in the financial construction of your CDHP. To properly design a CDHP, a portion of the premium savings (usually 50 percent, if priced competitively) that is generated from the HDHP should be invested in your employees by funding their healthcare account for use in paying for qualified medical expenses below their deductible. The amount funded can and should vary by family size (i.e., single, two-party, and family) and is determined by the employer from year to year.

The healthcare account is the most flexible feature of the CDHP, because the annual amount of funding can be adjusted based on employee utilization in the aggregate, and adjusted down to a specific dollar level (rather than being locked into a health plan’s limited design flexibility). The funding amounts cannot be individualized or the plan will fail discrimination guidelines, which is prohibited by federal regulation. Be sure your benefits advisor and your insurer provide overall utilization data and information by enrollment category (i.e., individual, two-party, family) tomake your funding allocation decisions easier to make. The healthcare account information will help you determine the appropriate adjustments to make from year to year and potentially help you achieve your annual budget.

CDHPCoach’s Storage Facility, where the Coach has organized and compiled a vast amount of tools and resources for you to access.

Housed here are key components and information within the book, Bend the Healthcare Trend which was the impetus behind the CDHPCoach.