I have a friend who works for one of the top health insurance providers. She says that no matter which insurance carrier Wells Fargo (or any large company) chooses, most of the benefits employees are offered and the premiums we pay is very customizable by employers year-to-year. The people who say that we have good or bad healthcare based on who the provider is - UHC, Anthem, Human, Cigna - it isn’t really important because in the end it is the employer who decides which benefits we are offered, not the insurance company.
So yes - insurance costs overall are going higher. But when Wells Fargo infers it is out of their hands that employees must pay more for the same or less benefits, it’s not entirely true. Wells Fargo chooses whether or not to absorb more or less of the cost for their employees. Employers can also reduce benefits in ways that are not easily identifiable to cut down on costs. Wells Fargo decides our coverage options, our benefits, our deductibles and our premiums. Wells Fargo decides to add or remove benefits. Wells Fargo decides whether employees can customize their deductibles and copayments to fit their healthcare usage and financial preferences.
And let’s not forget that Wells Fargo is being sued for allegedly mismanaging its employee health plan and causing employees to pay too much for prescription dr-gs.