A Large-Sized Employer Case Study
How one company realized remarkable value in their consumer directed healthcare approach

The Client
Dow Corning, owner of thousands of important patents from silicone to solar energy.

The Challenge
How to help employees hold costs down by becoming savvy healthcare consumers.

Employers across the nation are trying to combat the rising healthcare premiums, which are increasing at a rate of 6% each year, according to the 2009 National Business Group on Health Survey, conducted by Towers Watson (formerly Watson Wyatt ). Many employers are hesitant about offering a consumer directed healthcare (CDH) plan because the deductible is higher than a traditional PPO or HMO plan. Dow Corning saw the CDH plan as an opportunity for savings and believed that with a 20% adoption rate, the CDH plan offering would be a success. While shopping for a partner to administer their health savings accounts (HSAs) they turned to HealthEquity for their expertise and best-in-class service delivery designed to educate their employees about the CDH-HSA option.

The HealthEquity Solution
HealthEquity helped Dow Corning create an education and communication plan about health savings accounts and the CDH plan option. HealthEquity’s high standard for consistent, 24/7/365 service made it easy for Dow Corning employees to receive the information when they were looking for it. In addition to HealthEquity’s member service, Dow Corning’s plan design and considerable contributions to the HSAs made the CDH-HSA plan successful.

The Result
Through Dow Corning’s educational efforts in informing their employees about the benefits of choosing a CDH-HSA plan, utilizing HealthEquity’s easy-to-use member portal, and contributing to their employees’ HSAs, the CDH-HSA option is an overwhelming success with a 74% participation rate.

By offering a CDH-HSA choice, partnering with an experienced and knowledgeable HSA administrator, Dow Corning’s CDH premiums remained flat while their PPO/HMO premiums increased by well over 11%.