How to sell a CDHP to employees

Be creative. Be funny. Be different. Try making a funny, short video that gets your employees’ attention about what they need to know. Make a poster. Be creative about putting the important, vital information out there.

Be honest. It’s important to be clear about the information you know, and don’t know, about a CDHP. “Be clear that you don’t know what the premiums are yet,” Gottlieb said. “Be honest about what plans you’re dropping and why. If it’s the Cadillac tax, tell them. If you’re doing it to try to save money, then tell them. Be honest that health care prices are spiraling out of control. If you were the employee how would you want your company to treat you? You’d want them to be honest.”

Show them the numbers. The numbers employees want aren’t the (many) numbers on confusing health insurance statements. “Looking through the employees’ eyes, they want to know what’s going to cost them the least, in addition to looking at the options they want,” Gottlieb said.

Be brief. Eliminate irrelevant information about the CDHP employees don’t want or don’t understand.

Help them make a choice. Employees don’t know a lot about health insurance. They don’t want a lot of choices and they want input about what would work best for them. Gottlieb explained that it’s a situation similar to at a restaurant. “People want to know what the waiter thinks,” he said. “They don’t want a waiter that says everything on the menu is really good. They want the waiter who tells them not to get certain items.”

Explain, explain, explain. Consumers don’t understand vital parts of a CDHP: They don’t know what a health savings account or a flexible spending account is, so Gottlieb suggests using simple examples and stories to explain what they are and how that can benefit employees. “However complicated it is, there is a simple way to say it,” he said.