Carenet helps healthcare companies solve complex business challenges faster, while delivering world-class engagement outcomes for consumers. Its trusted relationships with premier health plans, providers, and health services companies fuel strategies that advance growth, optimize costs, and power consumerism on behalf of its clients.
The Challenge
Provide coverage that employees could afford to use while stabilizing costs for the company
Carenet has always been committed to healthcare innovation for its clients, but after five years of challenges with its own employee benefits, the company needed to turn its attention inward. The traditional group benefits model was becoming unsustainable, marked by escalating costs and disappointingly low employee participation.
Robin Hamel, EVP and CHRO, describes their predicament: "In 2020, when we were getting ready to renew our fully insured plan, the renewal cost was a 26% increase." Despite switching carriers, they still faced a 20% rise on already expensive premiums.
The company then tried going the self-funded route, which initially saved half a million dollars, but the next year they were "half a million in the hole and that was with stop-loss.”
Even more concerning was the low participation rate. "We had fewer than 30% of our eligible employees accepting insurance, and we're a healthcare company," Hamel says, highlighting the irony. This low uptake trapped Carenet in a high-risk insurance pool, further inflating costs. Employees faced an impossible choice: take expensive coverage they couldn't afford to use, or go uninsured.
“Our CEO said, ‘Robin, we can’t afford these huge increases every year. It’s time to look at something vastly different,’” Hamel recalls.
Watch Now
Carenet EVP & CHRO Robin Hamel explains how switching to ICHRA provided a fresh start.
The Solution
Migrate to an ICHRA with SureCo for Carenet’s 2,000 eligible employees spanning 48 states
After evaluating various alternatives, including reference-based pricing, Carenet partnered with SureCo to implement an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA).
“ICHRAs are really on brand for Carenet,” Hamel says. “We're a company that helps other companies' employees become more actively involved in their own healthcare, and when you take personal responsibility for the plan you choose with an ICHRA, I think it does necessitate a higher level of consumerism."
Hamel wasn’t always such an ICHRA fan. Back in 2023, she initially wrote them off as “an administrative nightmare." But ICHRAs have come a long way, and deeper investigation into SureCo’s process revealed a viable path forward.
“So much changes when you move to an ICHRA, that I really wanted as much to stay the same as possible. Part of the reason we went with SureCo is that you make Open Enrollment feel like a traditional Open Enrollment, and the withdrawals from people’s paychecks are just like what they’re used to.”
SureCo’s experience with large groups and comprehensive onboarding materials gave Hamel additional confidence to make the move. She worked with SureCo to launch an extensive employee education campaign that enabled Carenet’s workers to confidently navigate their new options and make informed healthcare decisions.
The Results
A 20% increase in participation and an escape from the company’s high-risk pool
The shift to an ICHRA with SureCo delivered transformative results for Carenet Health. Most notably, the company achieved a significant surge in benefits participation. "In the change, we had almost a 20% increase in insured population," Hamel proudly shares. "That was my goal. It felt hypocritical for a healthcare company to have so many uninsured people."
Financially, ICHRA provided the stability Carenet desperately needed. "The finance team loves it because there's predictability in our expense now," Hamel confirms. While overall expenditure increased due to higher participation, per-head costs were managed effectively, and Carenet successfully escaped the "high-risk pool" that had previously inflated its insurance costs.
Employee response was overwhelmingly positive as well. Employees no longer had to choose between unaffordable premiums or unusable deductibles. "Our 19-year-old who doesn't even believe he needs insurance was able to sign on for a Bronze-level plan that was almost 100% paid for by the company," says Hamel. “Conversely, those of us who are getting a little bit up there in age feel more comfortable picking a richer plan that fits our individual needs. That was never an option for us before."
With the increase in participation, Carenet also saw a decrease in turnover. "It's absolutely been a retention driver for us," adds Hamel.
Hamel credits SureCo directly. "You made me a hero," she says. “The transition hasn’t been without bumps, but SureCo has always been there to help us navigate them. I'm a believer in SureCo, and I'm a believer in ICHRA. It's the way we all need to move."
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