Encore! EP419: The Financialization of Health Benefits for Boards of Directors and C-Suites of Self-Insured Employers, With Andreas Mang

Are you on the board of directors of a company? Or a shareholder of a publicly traded company? Or a CEO, CFO, or in-house counsel who reports to a board of directors or shareholders? This encore episode is for you — it's about how the healthcare industry has become financialized at the same time that providing health benefits has become the second-biggest line item after payroll for most companies (a topic touched on in the recent encore with Mark Cuban, EP418, as well as the show with Cora Opsahl, EP452, and Claire Brockbank, EP453, from 32BJ). In this encore episode, Stacey Richter interviews Andreas Mang from Blackstone about the financialization of health benefits for boards of directors and C-suites of self-insured employers. They discuss the unseen financial layers in healthcare benefits and how companies can save significantly while improving employee satisfaction and health.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why Andreas starts every conversation with the question "How's your healthcare company?" — and why every self-insured employer should think of itself as a small healthcare company

✅ Why it's structurally unnatural for companies to be providing health insurance in the first place, and what that means for how the benefit should actually be managed

✅ What can be achieved when there's real alignment between employers and insurers — and the concrete things a company can do to reduce spend by 10%

✅ Why self-insurance automatically saves companies 5% to 9% — and why "the funding isn't a healthcare thing, it's a CFO thing"

✅ Why CFO engagement in the benefits plan throughout the year matters, why a reliable and trustworthy broker is vital, and how employers can actually get a flat-fee model from their broker

WHY THIS MATTERS

Health benefits have quietly become one of the largest, least-scrutinized financial line items most companies carry — and treating that line item like "a healthcare thing" rather than a CFO thing is exactly why the financialization Andreas describes goes unnoticed. When was the last time your company RFP'd its health plan? For most boards and C-suites, the honest answer is a wake-up call.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

✉️ Enjoy this podcast? Subscribe to the free weekly newsletter

🫙 Support the podcast with a small donation to the Tip Jar

=== CONNECT WITH THE RHV TEAM ===

✭ LinkedIn ✭ Threads ✭ X ✭ Bluesky

00:00 Introduction.

04:55 Why Andreas starts every conversation with the question, "How's your healthcare company?"

07:38 Why is it important, as a self-insured employer, to treat your business as a small healthcare company?

09:16 Why is it unnatural for companies to be providing health insurance?

10:47 What can be achieved when there is alignment between employers and insurers?

12:41 What things can a company do to reduce spend by 10%?

14:14 Why is it better to have CFO engagement in the benefits plan throughout the year?

16:25 Why does self-insurance save 5% to 9% for companies automatically?

18:14 "The funding isn't a healthcare thing; it's a CFO thing."

18:27 Why is it vital to have a reliable, trustworthy broker?

25:12 When is the last time your company has RFP'd their health plan?

27:39 Why does changing a health plan feel scary but is necessary?

28:31 What is a dependent eligibility audit?

31:20 Why are employers better together?

34:34 How do employers truly get a flat-fee model with brokers?