A city moved employees onto a high-deductible health plan to promote consumerism, then urgent-care visits spiked as staff treated the plan like they had no coverage. The CHRO is evaluating the benefit strategy. What should HR do?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
A gym membership nobody can actually use is not a wellness strategy—it is a bill. Same with a high-deductible plan that sends people to urgent care because ordinary care feels like they are uninsured. Judge the design by what employees did next, not by the fad that sold it.
Full Explanation
Benefit strategy is evaluated on access and utilization, not on whether a design was fashionable when adopted. A high-deductible plan that drives deferred primary care and urgent-care substitution has failed its own consumerism thesis. Adding a copay clinic or other first-dollar primary-care path is a legitimate redesign that preserves cost discipline while restoring usable coverage. Doubling down on deductibles, defending the label, or exiting sponsorship altogether does not answer the outcome the city actually observed.