By Susan Saldibar

I had a peek at a recent survey conducted by KARE (a Foresight partner). 

This jumped out. 

When KARE HEROES were asked what the #1 thing was that they really, really needed from employers, 

if it was affordable, their response was “major medical care.”

No surprise if you know that out of those surveyed, 

  • Only 27% are participating and paying into their employer’s health insurance program.
  • 23% do not participate in the insurance program. Most said it was because they couldn’t afford it. 
  • The other 50%? Their employers don’t provide health insurance or access to a subsidy to buy it. 

If this doesn’t scream “broken,” I don’t know what does.

But operators have their sad stories as well. They don’t get a lot of choices with brokered plans. They’re expensive. Add to that high deductibles and high co-pays, and everybody loses.

But here’s some good news: It’s 2023, and the gig economy has disrupted health care.

Maybe “gig mentality” is a better term, since even full-time workers want to detach work from health care and make it portable so that it follows them regardless of where they work. COBRA has always been a terrible alternative. It almost emptied my wallet back in the day. 

So KARE made a huge announcement that you need to know about. 

In one of the latest KARE-ing Conversations with Rachel Hill, KARE’s Katie Rhone and Jordan Evans were stoked to tell everyone about their partnership with Stride. 

Here’s what KARE HEROes (those CNAs and other frontline workers who download the KARE app) can get with this new Stride partnership:

  1. A drop-dead simple interface that asks a bunch of questions and uses the input to take the KARE HERO to information that fits their personal needs and budgets.
  2. Access to all shapes and sizes of affordable, comprehensive medical care.
  3. Access to dental care and vision care. 
  4. A support team you can actually call! 
  5. Deals on prescriptions. Their buying power gives them economies that they pass along to users.
  6. Help with taxes. This is huge. It includes a tax section that helps 1099 contract workers calculate things to write off, like expenses and mileage.

A connection with KARE is just as good for operators as it is for KARE HEROes. 

That’s because it’s connecting your careforce to more than just an occasional extra shift on a Saturday. KARE connects them to a growing list of resources that gives them affordable options. 

And it gets your HR department out of the vicious cycle of working their butts off to provide soulless health care. 

“It’s perfect.” “Love it.” “So nice, fast, and easy.” “This is crazy good.” “Life changing.” 

That’s what Jordan and Katie are hearing from users of KARE and Stride. How much happier would your careforce be if you turned them on to KARE? And what would they be saying about you as a leader? 

What I love about KARE is that they look for resources KARE HEROes need, and they add them to KARE. 

And what they appear to be growing is a network that any shape or form of employee can access and use. 

Watch the KARE-ing Conversations episode. Then check out KARE. 

Your team is your most valuable asset. Providing them with a means to get affordable health insurance shouldn’t be a benefit. It should be a given.