Tango Health
Helping Employees Select the Best Health Plans

Even as employers get more inventive in recruiting and retaining talent—from offering improved leave policies to pet-friendly offices—health insurance remains the top benefit that employees value after salary. Employers and their benefits consultants invest a significant amount of time and resources in creating well-designed health insurance plans. However, choosing the right plan is often perplexing for employees.

Since a large part of the workforce has little understanding of health plans, deductibles and monthly premium rates, they need education and guidance to help them make informed health plan decisions. In addition, many HR and benefits professionals need to extend their teams with outside help to successfully support their employees during open enrollment and throughout the year. That’s where Tango Health comes in.

Tango Health offers innovative software and services that empower employees who struggle with selecting the optimal benefits plan for their needs. Whether it's providing enterprises with year-round decision support programs or helping them remain compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA); Tango Health functions as an extension of the HR and benefits teams.

“Enabling employees to select the best health plan for their needs is the goal of the Tango Decision Assist™ Program. We combine predictive-modeling software, benefits communications, and expert benefits coaches to facilitate in decision-making,” says Todd Praisner, founder and CEO, Tango Health.

The solution easily integrates with existing benefits platforms and enables employees to run different medical scenarios to gauge a baseline for their healthcare spending. The software also pulls detailed, individual claims-data from the previous year and provides “people like me” peer data to help employees estimate spending.

93 percent of employees typically choose the same benefits year after year, and 54 percent waste up to $750 each year because of mistakes they made during open enrollment.

Though it’s easier for employees to just stay in the same plan, Tango Health has had success driving change and guiding employees to voluntarily select the best plan for their needs. In one case, a Fortune 500 company was offering a new high deductible plan (HDHP) to their employees, but after several years they were only at 16 percent adoption. Employees weren’t used to the new kind of health plan and didn’t understand health spending accounts (HSAs.) Tango Health developed a customized solution with decision support software, expert coaches, and a year-round benefits communication program educating on topics such as HSAs. In just two years, Tango Health increased voluntary adoption of the HDHP by 225 percent and saved employees over $15 million in reduced benefits expenses.

Enabling employees to select the best health plan for their needs is the goal of the Tango Decision Assist Program. We combine predictive-modeling software, benefits communications and expert coaches to facilitate in decision-making

The three-prong approach was key to shifting employees’ preconceived ideas of HDHP. The year-round education warmed employees up to the idea of a new plan, the decision support helped employees make a data-driven decision, and when the coaches were consulted the plan recommendation was accepted over 80percent of the time. This expert validation of the plan recommendation gave employees the confidence to make the final decision and enroll in the health plan that best met their needs.

With health insurance as a top driver for employee satisfaction, it’s important to continue to understand any shifts in the market. “We are focused on staying out in front of the evolution of health plan offerings and emerge as a reliable voice in the ever-changing landscape of health insurance and benefits,” ends Praisner.