How an iconic Lehigh Valley manufacturer combined smarter risk protection with easier access to care, and turned its benefits strategy into more than $2 million in savings.
For an iconic American manufacturer with nearly two centuries of history and approximately 800 employees, managing healthcare costs requires more than simply negotiating a better renewal. When the company partnered with BSI, it was facing two important opportunities: rethink its self-funded stop-loss strategy and make healthcare more accessible for a workforce spread across shifts and departments.
Rather than address those challenges separately, BSI looked at how the two could work together. The strategy was to strengthen the company’s protection against financial risk while making it easier for employees to access appropriate care. The company ultimately selected BSI CORE for its stop-loss strategy and integrated telemedicine into its benefits program, creating a coordinated approach focused on both cost management and employee access.
A Strategy Built to Deliver
The results were immediate. In Year 1, BSI CORE generated $957,114 in savings compared with the fully insured alternatives the company evaluated. But the strategy didn’t stop there. Year 2 delivered another $275,306 in savings, followed by $407,650 and $247,922 in subsequent renewal cycles. Altogether, the company retained $1,887,993 in stop-loss savings.
At the same time, telemedicine addressed the other side of the equation: access to care. For employees working different shifts and schedules, virtual access provided a convenient alternative for general medical care, mental health support, physical therapy, dermatology, and specialist services. By removing barriers such as travel, scheduling, and time away from work, the program helped employees access care earlier and avoid potentially more costly settings, including unnecessary urgent care and emergency room visits. Within two years, telemedicine generated six-figure documented savings.
The power of the strategy was in the integration. Stop-loss helped the employer manage financial risk, while telemedicine helped influence how and where employees accessed care. Together, the strategies created a more comprehensive approach to benefits management, one that addressed both the cost of the plan and the employee experience.
More Than $2 Million—and Counting
The result is more than $2 million in combined savings from two complementary strategies. But the bigger takeaway is that effective benefits management isn’t about solving one problem at a time. It’s about understanding how funding, risk, access, and employee engagement connect, and finding opportunities to improve them together.
For this manufacturer, taking that broader view turned two benefits challenges into one integrated strategy with measurable, sustainable results.
That’s the BSI difference: looking beyond the renewal, connecting the dots, and finding smarter ways to make benefits work harder for both employers and employees. No lazy answers. No cookie-cutter plans.