THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE AS AN EMPLOYEE BENEFIT:
Employers give health care as an advantage to their members of staff in the remuneration package. This acts as form of employee motivation in their rewards system. Employees therefore get medical attention from health institutions without any charges. Their medical expenses are therefore set off by the company that they are working for. This ensures that professionals and non professionals do not miss work due to illnesses and accidents that have not been attended to. Health care benefits are in most cases restricted to permanent employees who are considered as an asset to the company. The better the employees are motivated, the more their contribution to the company’s profitability in the long run, to the long run..
Healthcare benefit to members of staff in any particular organization and all over the world will look different in years to come. Healthcare packages should be adjusted to match with the changing medical needs, harsh economic times and the improving medical world. Health needs keep changing over time. When employees are given adequate medical attention by their employers, this is considered a health package. Health needs for inpatients and out patients are different and they all need to be catered for in the health scheme, between their employer and the health institutions. Out-patients can report to work the same day after treatment. However, inpatients need a follow up by the human resource department to keep a check on their progress. Employees should therefore be monitored to ensure that they are well taken care of in hospital and at home, to make sure that they have recovered well before they continue with business at work.
In future, employers need to look at their members of staff as Human resources and treat them like any other factor of production, like capital. Employees contribute entrepreneurial ability to the operations of the organization and activities can not function normally with out their input. Like assets, employees depreciate due to illnesses and old age. The best way to renovate them is ensuring that their medical needs are well catered for. At old age, individuals need adequate medical attention to keep their performance high. Health care benefits should extend to their retirement, considering the contribution that they have given to the organization. Old employees should be given an adequate medical cover, considering that their health needs are enormous and their mental capacity is diminishing. Psychiatrist attention expenditure, should be more considered more than that of physicians, for old employees, because people develop mental conditions at old age.
Due to the fluctuating economic and financial conditions, health expenditures are growing day by day. At present employers only pay for a portion of an employee’s medical expenditure. It should however be considered that medical practitioners are increasing their charges, which makes it hard for employees to pay for what their company has not paid for. Healthcare benefits should therefore be adjusted, to cater for the changing economic hardships. Due to the economic crunch, members of staff are getting stressed and depressed , this calls for some medical attention from the Physiatrists and employees may not have enough funds for this. Healthcare packages in future should consider all sorts of illnesses to ensure that employees remain at work, at whatever cost because labor is factor of production like any other factor input.
(Albert, 2001 p.3-17)
Healthcare benefits in future should include adequate Insurance policies so that employees are compensated for, incase they experience accidents during or outside work. People should be compensated for after accidents, to act as a motivation to those who have been traumatized. People should continue getting medical attention, after discharge from hospitals at the expense of their employers. Insurance covers should provide costs for nurses who attend to accident victims at home. Insurance costs should be considered as a way of taking care of the company’s assets, human resources. Accident victims may find it expensive to stay in the hospital, for medical attention. They may therefore prefer being discharged and recover fully at home. If well considered in the healthcare package, they will therefore recover better and get back to work fast. Some of these employees may be well skilled, educated and with thee necessary experience which may be wasted if they are wasted by accidents or any other illnesses, which had not been considered under the insurance policy.
(Frank, 2002. Healthcare provision)
Healthcare packages should be redesigned to match with medical cost pressures on employees. Inflation is increasing day by day and healthcare providers are increasing the cost of medical attention. The Human resource manager should consider coming up with healthcare benefits that are comprehensive. These packages should be reviewed on a yearly basis to match with medication costs. Illnesses and accidents are natural and can not be foreseen. It is the duty of the human resource manager to ensure that the company has a budget for adjustments incase the need arises. Medical cost expenditures may stress the employees and affect their performance at work. This redesign will act as a motivation to employees who give their best to the company.
Healthcare costs by the Human resource department should be capitalized. This is a one time saving, which should be considered to be incurred on one of the input factors, labor. This cost saves the company a lot, incase of emergencies. The employees will always be attended to when sick, ensuring first recovery and getting back to work as soon as possible. High costs of medical care are inevitable due to the ongoing economic crisis. The employer should therefore plan and make a budget for all health related costs on its employees. The financing of health care expenses by the company should be prioritized just like any other expenditure by the company. The Board of Directors should also have healthcare benefits as an agenda item. Decisions reached should therefore be operationalised by the Human resource personnel. The quality of health provision should be ensured in administering the health package. The amount set aside as health benefit should be sufficient and adequate to ensure that employees get professional medication whenever they fall sick. Health is said to be wealth; members of staff will only perform better when they have received quality healthcare.
(Wilson, 2003. Health Care Services)
Healthcare providers are getting pressurized day by day. They are therefore starting to focus on making profit in their entities. Days when the Government could provide medical services free of charge are gone. This calls for coalitions between health care providers (hospitals and physicians), employers and the health insurers. Such coalitions help the Human resource department in coming up with a health package suitable to all members of staff. It is very necessary for the employer to understand the kind of medical services available and their cost, in order to redesign the healthcare benefits. Staff benefit consultants are also necessary in the making of these packages. This is because such packages should be designed to act as a form of employee motivation. When employee’s medical needs are well catered for, their psych improves and they will both be efficient and effective at work. Staff benefit consultants will provide their skills and knowledge in coming up with the reward systems to labor.
Human resource healthcare should be well managed . Employee’s families should also be included in the package. Those with families should have their couples and children catered for. Family members are considered to be dependants and if not considered, it might be a burden to the employees who are expected to deliver their services to the company. If an employee’s family healthcare needs are well catered for, this is considered to be a form of employee motivation.
Accountability on health care benefits is also necessary. This helps in ensuring that health care benefits are not provided at a loss to the employer. In such cases the profitability of the company will be compromised and there will be negative balances on the company’s Income statement. Policy makers should be involved in the redesigning of healthcare benefits, to ensure compliance with the company’s standards. The packages should be with out bias and should be administered uniformly at all levels of staff, starting with the most senior to the laborers. This will ensure that a company’s Human resource operation standards, are maintained in future.
(Zagar,2001. Healthcare)
References:
Albert, T. (2001). Human Resource Management. New Jersey. Nerd Publishers.
Frank, K. (2002). Healthcare Provision: Provision of Medical Services to Employees, 20, 23-45.
Wilson, T. (2003). Healthcare Services: Employee’s Health Care Services, 10, 2-24
Zagar, M. (2001). Healthcare: Health Care Benefit to Employees, 25, 11-30