Small Manufacturer Finds Greater Influence with BHCG

With 25 employees, DrillMaster Tool LLC doesn't have much leverage on its own in the health care marketplace.

But in early 2006, the Slinger, Wis.-based maker of work-holding fixtures, special machines, leak test systems and assembly machines joined the Business Health Care Group. And according to the company’s president, the group’s collective power has given DrillMaster a voice in the market.

“As one small company, we were powerless to do anything about rising health care costs,” said Ed Shanley. “But now we’re part of a large group with shared goals. And because of the growing size of this coalition, the market must listen to us.”

Keeping Employee Premiums in Check

DrillMaster employees pay 10 percent of their health insurance premiums through paycheck deductions, Shanley said. However, rising costs in recent years have increased the pressure to raise the employee contribution. “I’ve been fighting hard to keep the overall costs down,” he said.

So he was pleased to find a group that’s united around the same goal. “The Business Health Care Group has some really unique ideas, and they’re the first people that really have a solution that can work,” Shanley said.

For example, he cited the group’s emphasis on sharing detailed cost and quality data so that consumers can make more informed decisions about health care services. Humana, BHCG’s administrative partner, offers a variety of research tools on its website. “Transparency is the number-one feature that will help lower costs,” he said.

But health care costs are a multifaceted problem that requires a variety of solutions. That’s why, like many BHCG members, DrillMaster is also considering developing a wellness program that would help to reduce employees’ need for health care services.

 “There are many causes to the health care problem,” Shanley said. “We have to look at what each one of us can do to work against these out-of-control costs.”

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