May 22, 2025

This piece is sponsored by Avera Health.

Health insurance is one of the top priorities for people looking for a job and among employees who are weighing whether to stay at their company or look elsewhere.

“For employers, health insurance is a huge percentage of their overall spend for compensation and benefits because of the significant recruitment and retention aspect,” said Jordan Anderson, senior director of group sales at Avera Health Plans. “It’s a big part of the conversation with all our partners, clients and prospective clients as well.”

Avera, as an employer and also a provider of health insurance, has placed an emphasis on offering strong benefits for decades. Through Avera Health Plans, Avera is a self-funded insurance client. This gives Avera both an increased financial responsibility for health insurance and also flexibility to tailor benefits to meet employee needs.

“Being self-funded is among options for large groups like Avera. Yet there are good options for offering coverage for all employers, whether you have just one or two employees or 50 or more,” Anderson said. “Employers stand to miss opportunities to hire good people if they don’t offer health insurance.”

Overall for all age groups of employees, from high school students to pre-retirement age, paid-time off is the top benefit they’re looking for. “Employees are looking for life balance and flexibility. They want to know if they can get off work when they want or need to,” said Kimberly Enebo, vice president for talents and rewards in human resources at Avera Health.

A close second is health insurance.

“When you look at generations in the workplace, different benefits are important depending on what stage of life they’re at,” said Abbey Vanderwerf, director of benefits for Avera HR.

If someone’s 23 and still on their parents’ insurance plan, it’s usually not on their radar screen. But if an employee is the spouse of a farmer or entrepreneur, getting health coverage for the whole family is a must.

“Employees look to HR teams like ours at Avera as they make their benefit elections because health insurance can be super-confusing,” Vanderwerf said. “Our employees have a trust level with us to make the right recommendations so they’re covered when they need it the most.”

Because costs are always increasing, employers must strike a balance between offering the coverage employees need and keeping premium costs down.

“Employers may look to reduce premiums by increasing deductibles and out-of-pocket expense, but when employees actually have a health event, coming up with a huge out-of-pocket payment can be financially challenging,” Anderson said.

“We keep a pulse on it and watch our enrollment numbers, making adjustments as needed,” Enebo said. “It’s a testament to making sure our health insurance is very competitive both in plan design and plan premiums.”

Avera offers two main options for employees: a traditional plan and a high-deductible health plan that’s paired with a contribution to the employee’s health savings account.

To be competitive and fulfill important needs, employers can consider plans that include value-added services, giving employees a bonus benefit.

For Avera Health Plans clients, this includes:

• Well-being programs.
• Virtual visits for urgent care needs and behavioral health.
• Employee assistance program.
• Fitness center incentives.
• Pharmacy benefits.

Population health management is a strategy for keeping premium costs lower, especially for self-funded companies like Avera. For example, at Avera, this includes offering a tool to help people manage their diabetes better.

“The diabetic population on average incurs costs that are two times higher than the general population,” Anderson said. “So we’re looking at how you help ensure this population is getting healthier while lowering costs.”

Another strategy is a recently added health plan that’s specific for people who want to lose weight and utilize weight-loss drugs.

Behavioral health virtual visits are a recent addition to the list of value-added services.

“We added this because we continue to see trends that mental health, behavioral health and substance abuse care across the country are in high demand. Secondly, so much of our population lives in rural areas where it can be hard to access behavioral health services. They may not have that local resource,” Anderson said.

“On our side as an employer, we’re always focusing on communicating to our employees to use their covered preventive services. It costs nothing for the covered employee and their dependents, and annual checkups and recommended screenings can catch things earlier so it does not end up being a chronic, expensive condition, both for them and for the cost of the plan,” Enebo said.

“At the same time, they stay healthier and able to be at their best in the workplace and enjoy better quality of life overall.”

It’s not enough to just “set it and forget it,” Vanderwerf said.

“The world changes so quickly that we’re constantly paying attention to our benefits so we can offer our employees the best and still be competitive.”

Learn more about health insurance plans or careers at Avera.