{"id":3797,"date":"2025-07-08T15:53:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3797"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:53:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:53:57","slug":"employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Employers Don\u2019t Scrutinize Health Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Most employers in the U.S. manage almost nothing about benefits administration, leading to significant employee frustration.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University<\/a> said that third-party administrators are vendors and, as such, must be subject to oversight of the employers who hire them, just as companies vet and monitor, for example, a steel vendor or software service provider.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were paying for services from you and you were providing a crappy service, I would figure out a way to either get a different vendor or do it myself,\u201d Pfeffer said, noting that some large organizations are self-insured. \u201cIn this case, the responsibility lies with the employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cApproximately 80% of working-age people in the U.S. get their healthcare paid for through insurance provided by their employer\u2014the employers are paying for these benefits that are not actually being delivered in a very efficient way, if at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the employer said to United Healthcare and Anthem and the Blues and everybody else, \u2018You need to do a better job, or we are going to basically get rid of you,\u2019 they would do a better job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are vendors, and the anger directed at health insurers needs to be redirected, if you are an employee getting your healthcare through benefits provided by your employer, to the people overseeing benefits and human resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pfeffer said that when employers begin to hold their vendors accountable for things other than spending\u2014such as denied claims and services\u2014the health insurance industry will respond accordingly. Meanwhile, he predicts that employers will increasingly confront class-action lawsuits based on their failure to fulfill their responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).<\/p>\n

\u201cIn few cases are they doing their duty to their employees,\u201d Pfeffer said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher Most employers in the U.S. manage almost nothing about benefits administration, leading to significant employee frustration. Academy of Management Scholar Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University said that third-party administrators are vendors and, as such, must be subject to oversight of the employers who hire them, just as companies vet and monitor, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,74,78,46],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c-suite","category-hr","category-policy","category-well-being"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEmployers Don\u2019t Scrutinize Health Benefits - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Employers Don\u2019t Scrutinize Health Benefits\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T15:53:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/magnifying-glass.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"C-SUITE\",\"HR\",\"POLICY\",\"WELL-BEING\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/employers-dont-scrutinize-health-benefits\\\/\",\"name\":\"Employers Don\u2019t Scrutinize Health Benefits - 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