The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs While Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same
Although the Obama health-care-reform bill did much to address the plight of some 46 million uninsured Americans, it did very little to address the skyrocketing cost increases that are crippling businesses large and small. Many companies are opting to drop health coverage altogether, choosing to pay any fines for doing so rather than face the hyperinflation related to this major expense. With its health-care costs threatening to take down the company in 2003, Serigraph, Inc., a Wisconsin manufacturer, took innovative steps to curtail the costs. By giving their employees a stake in the financial outcome of health care, they cut their costs drastically. Torinus, president of the company, outlines steps that any business can take to achieve similar results, which involve a major shift in behavior on the part of the insured employees. Unfortunately, this requires a plan with a very high deductible and co-pay, giving the insured motivation for staying healthy and not abusing the system. Although this is not a the single idea that will fix the health-care crisis, this approach has great potential for medium-size to small businesses grappling with this problem. --David Siegfried