Frequently Answered Questions

Is Sophus Health an insurance broker?

Sophus Health professionals offers the services of a broker, and a whole lot more. We are the designers of what might be described as the health programs of the future. We collaborate in the development and administration of your unique plan, which means we do not simply sell you what’s available. Our people do not earn commissions. Instead they invest their time and energy in keeping your costs low and your people well.

Do I have to shop for a new plan every few years?

You will never need to shop for new insurance or change your plan again. When you take ownership of your plan, Sophus Health works with you throughout the year to mitigate claim costs by providing your employees with education and tools for well-being. Also, your plan costs will likely remain more consistent, and we have recently experienced rates dramatically below the national average cost for healthcare.

Do you sell wellness plans?

Sophus does not follow the plug-and-play method of traditional insurance. Our clinical professionals work with your organization’s health team to integrate lifestyle management programs into the fabric of your Sophus plan. These evidence-based programs grow out of careful analysis of your demographic data and your employees’ need for better well-being. As a result, there is a direct return on investment, coupled with enhanced top-to-bottom vitality for the organization and its people.

My broker can get us wellness programs, so why work with Sophus?

The Sophus Health team is anchored by leading healthcare experts from all key discipline areas. And we live and breathe wellness, because it’s our core discipline. Sophus collaborates with you to custom design the healthcare program that precisely fits your scenario, taking full advantage of sophisticated lifestyle and date-driven strategies that lead to lower costs and greater employee satisfaction. We work with your actual data to plan and measure results. Furthermore, we consider all aspects that affect health (the Five Aspects of Health), and we address them directly. We don’t just insure health; we foster healthy people.

We use incentives, but employees go back to old behavior. What can you do?

A healthcare program based on rewards and penalties creates an adversarial culture. It treats adults like children, which is a model that is not effective and cannot be sustained. Sophus Health provides a culture of trust and care, in which employees and their families want to actively participate in their own well-being. Our approach respects humanity—understanding life is complex and people want to feel good, people want to be heard and people want not to be blamed or shamed. We focus on deeper, intrinsic change with real meaning and result.

We have a wellness website, isn’t that enough?

A wellness website is fine for providing information and tools. But the web site has not been created that is able to change behavior or motivate extra effort. The Sophus member web site is where we begin, and we couple that vital platform with a high-touch, human approach. This, because we understand motivation comes from within and that it is in response to be being heard and to being paid attention. Most wellness programs simply don’t have the time or knowledge to motivate your employees successfully. Sophus Health, on the other hand, embraces inner motivation as a foundational core.

What does finance have to do with health?

We understand that wellness is achieved through a dynamic balance between five areas. We call this the Five Aspects of Health. And one of those aspects is the financial piece. To be sure, financial woe is one of the leading causes of stress, which can lead to unnecessary and ineffective medications or cause disease. Plus, it impacts family life, job performance and physical health. Overlooking financial considerations simply invites more trouble.

Questions about Self-Funding and Partially Self-Funding:

We’re already self-funded. Why is Sophus self-funding better?

You are smart to be self-funded, because you’re keeping cash reserves and lowering fixed costs. However, if you are not using lifestyle management in conjunction with self-funding, your program’s foundation costs will continue to rise as claims go up. Sophus Health offers a much stronger solution because we continuously review your claims information and design programs to mitigate claims costs. The only real way to control healthcare costs over the long term is to collaborate with experts in learning, insurance and finance—the kind of experts found at Sophus Health. These are not salespeople. These are leading insurance professionals who have the savvy to guide you toward ownership of your healthcare future.

Isn’t our organization too small for partially self-funded health insurance?

Groups as small as 50 people can enjoy the benefits of a partially self-funded plan, regardless of the self-funding level. Costs are lowered. Outcomes are improved. Sophus Health manages the details and risk is managed through an outside re-insurance company. Some very large organizations assume the risks of being fully self-funded, based on the strength of their financial picture and number of participants. Small to medium organizations can also enjoy autonomy and empowerment by taking the partially self-funded path.

Doesn’t “partially self-funded insurance” mean that I will have to do lots of work?

The fact is, your workload could be substantially reduced by partially self-funded insurance because it is so well managed. It gives you the opportunity to better understand the kinds of claims affecting your organization, which can help you improve program management and control costs.

By creating a partially self-funded insurance plan, does that mean that our organization is at risk of paying more?

No. Your healthcare costs can actually be lowered by means of a partially self-funded plan. Sophus Health helps you to craft a plan that precisely fits your scenario, giving you greater control over costs. You purchase insurance at wholesale prices, which means your group avoids markups on claims, prescriptions and labs because you own the plan. You control it as the landlord of your plan, not the tenant. When you choose this direction, you automatically realize greater autonomy and lower costs, while still protecting your operation from losses. It’s a way to largely control your own destiny, and we are here to guide you, Plus, you can make changes and additions to your plan without ever having to shop around for new insurance. You avoid renewal rate increases. Benefits need never be reduced in order to cut costs.

Wellness programs are too expensive for our group, so why should yours be any different?

We’re happy to report this just isn’t true. You and your employees can see direct savings as a result of the Sophus model. It all comes down to the integration of partial self-funding and the deep caring intelligence of the  Sophus Learning Culture.