Recently, I had the opportunity to spend some time with a very talented employee benefits provider at the A. I. Group. He showed me their intricate system of identifying unusual costs and excessive expenses that may be reduced with health education.

It was very interesting to see the trends in health problems such as obesity, heart disease, asthma and cancer. We see this in our community and we hear about it in the news, but to see actual numbers was sobering. The good news is that there are cost reductions in each of these areas when patients are provided with some targeted educational pieces.

In the past, I wrote an article about the savings on a prescription for chemo induced nausea that was incredibly expensive when filled in small quantities, but was available at a fraction of the cost through the mail. My family saved hundreds of dollars a month by making this simple change. And, it was much more convenient to receive these drugs through the mail.

I personally learned this lesson the hard way by paying for the drug at full price. I decided to make some calls as it was prohibitively expensive and soon discovered the benefits of mail order. If I had received information from the administrator about the mail order savings, we (the employer, insurer and my family) would have saved a great deal of money.

My prescription example is from a few years ago and I am happy to report that I now receive regular mailings from our administrator about how to use our benefits more efficiently without sacrificing the high quality health care that we desire.