EP508: Why Don't More Self-insured CEOs Take Bold Action in Health Benefits Strategy? With Lee Lewis

Episode 508 is the first Ask Me Anything installment of Relentless Health Value, where Stacey Richter and Lee Lewis (Chief Strategy Officer and GM Medical Solutions at the Health Transformation Alliance and host of Broken Benefits) address a question from benefits procurement leader Sarah Monroe about why executives rarely take bold action on health benefits despite large opportunity.  Lewis describes three false C-suite "dogmas" that lead to "stay in the herd and keep it quiet": health benefits are a fixed expense, saving money hurts people (via cost shifting, low quality, or narrow networks), and fixing healthcare isn't worth the risk or disruption. They also discuss external deterrents including CEOs' proximity to health system leaders, "balance of trade" retaliation threats, vendor-provided personal incentives, and executives' limited empathy for deductibles/costs faced by lower-wage employees.  Lewis offers de-risking tactics (same-network TPAs, carrier-enabled vendor changes, narrow pilots, mid-year tests) and advises CEOs to encourage bold action, tie bonuses to plan performance, and staff benefits teams with diverse skills. === LINKS === 🔗  Show Notes with all mentioned links:   https://cc-lnk.com/EP508 📺  Visit Lee's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@brokenbenefits ✉️  Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🫙  Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar: https://relentlesshealthvalue.com/join-the-relentless-tribe 🎤  Listen on Apple Podcasts  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feed/id892082003?ls= 🎤  Listen on Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/show/6UjgzI7bScDrWvZEk2f46b 📺  Subscribe to our YouTube channel   https://www.youtube.com/@RelentlessHealthValue === CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM === ✭ LinkedIn   https://www.linkedin.com/company/relentless-health-value/ ✭ Threads  https://www.threads.net/@relentlesshealthvalue/ ✭ Bluesky   https://bsky.app/profile/relentleshealth.bsky.social ✭ X   https://twitter.com/relentleshealth/ 00:00 Introduction to this episode. 00:43 Ask Me Anything Question 1: Why don't more self-insured executives take bold action toward their benefits strategy? 03:09 A summary of the three dogmas covered in the following conversation. 05:53 A look ahead at next week's episode. 06:36 An introduction to today's guest, Lee Lewis. 08:23 Why there is an aversion to digging into health benefits for some executives. 09:43 The first dogma: Healthcare costs are fixed expenses. 09:56 The second dogma: Saving money in healthcare hurts people. 12:01 The third dogma: Fixing healthcare is never worth the effort. 12:26 How these dogmas trickle down to HR teams. 13:47 Anecdote: One company that turned down saving $50 million and why. 16:28 A quick reminder about the context behind where CEOs' mindsets are. 17:10 The kinds of employers HTA seeks out. 19:20 EP500 with Stacey. 20:03 The power of C-suites in health systems. 21:33 EP466 with Vivian Ho, PhD. 21:36 EP404 with Suhas Gondi, MD, MBA. 21:42 Why a CEO may pull the plug on health plan/health benefit improvements. 22:37 An anecdote abou