Origins and Mission
The journey of how Flex Health started, along with its partners, emerged from a recognition of the growing challenges in the employee benefits landscape. Founded in 2019, the program set out with a clear mission: to create a more sustainable approach to employee health benefits by prioritizing all-inclusive preventative healthcare.
The founders of this program, drawing from extensive experience in healthcare and insurance industries, identified several key issues in the market:
- Rising costs of traditional health insurance
- The burden these costs placed on both companies and their employees
- The reactive nature of most health plans, which focused on treatment rather than prevention
- The underutilized Section 125 deductions available to W-2 employees
These insights led to the conceptualization of a program that would leverage existing tax codes, focus on preventative care, and provide tangible benefits to both employers and employees.
Developing the Program
The journey to establish this Section 125 program involved several years, upfront capital, and key steps, all of which contributing to how Flex Health started in this unique field.
Carrier Partnership: The program partners closely with established group policy carriers like Clear Spring Health (owned by Guggeinheim Partners) and Crum & Forster. This partnership was essential in creating a program that is fully funded and fully insured, garnering the trust of large employers.
Regulatory Approval: Obtaining licensing from the Department of Insurance in multiple states was a critical and complex process. The team navigated this intricate regulatory landscape to ensure the program can operate in all 50 states and maintain a 30-35% engagement rate.
Technology Integration: From the outset, Flex Health recognized the potential of emerging technologies to deliver healthcare services more efficiently and cost-effectively. This led copious testing of several vendors to integrate telemedicine, digital health coaching, and other tech-driven solutions into the platform.
Preventative Care Focus: At the core of Flex Health’s program is a comprehensive suite of preventative care services, designed to catch health issues early and promote overall wellness.
The Flex Health Difference
What sets Flex Health apart in the marketplace is its compliance standards, being the first Section 125 program of its kind. It’s this uniqueness in the marketplace that better explains how Flex Health started making a difference amongst competitors.
Fully Funded and Insured: Flex Health is not a self-expensed program, and goes above and beyond to work with an underlying carrier to make sure payments are going to and from an actual insurance policy.
Compliance-First: Flex Health regularly seeks legal counsel and formal analyses to ensure the program stays up date with insurance regulations and IRS tax codes. Several opinion letters have been written upholding the status.
Financial Incentives: Flex Health as a Section 125 program is unique, in that both the employer and enrolled employee benefit financially with no out-of-pocket cost. This is because the employee’s tax savings are in excess of the remaining policy cost. Flex Health is also only compensated as a portion of the tax savings incurred by the employer.
Seamless Onboarding: Flex Health understands how inconvenient it often is to work with an entirely new benefits program, which is why the onboarding process integrates directly with your company’s payroll system, auto enrolls & educates employees, and requires minimal effort from the HR department.
Vision for the Future
As Flex Health continues to grow, its vision remains focused on innovation and expansion, driven by the impact it has already made. Today, Flex Health is working with more franchises staffing companies and manufacturers, as well as expanding into the cannabis industry. Flex Health also launched its referral partner program in 2024, opening the opportunity for brokers, accountants, and law firms to get commissions for successfully bringing on new clients.
The impact of Flex Health is already evident, with participants reporting better health outcomes and companies seeing higher employee satisfaction. As the healthcare landscape evolves, Flex Health stands ready to adapt and innovate, shaping the future of workplace wellness. By continuing to prioritize prevention, leveraging technology, and maximizing financial incentives, Flex Health is not just changing employee health approaches – it’s creating a new standard for workplace well-being.
