Tradeoffs How One Company Gamified Health Insurance
Aug 14, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Alex Olgen, a reporter for TradeOffs, delves into how a Maryland company transformed health insurance decision-making using gamification. He highlights innovative strategies like the Benefit Builder game, where employees voice their healthcare priorities, leading to ethical debates over benefits allocation. Topics include the challenges of negotiating high-cost medications and the importance of empathy in fostering collaborative dialogue. This approach not only addresses employee needs but also reshapes the future of health benefits.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Staff Played A Health-Benefits Game
- ASHA staff played a game called Benefit Builder to design their own health plan during work hours.
- Small groups debated priorities like dental, mental health, and expensive drugs while allocating poker-chip budgets.
Personal Scenarios Trigger Tough Choices
- Players read hypothetical scenarios about colleagues needing costly treatments to prompt debate.
- The game forced groups to weigh whether they'd pay higher premiums so coworkers could access expensive care.
Complex Care Makes Decisions Harder
- Rising healthcare costs and new treatments made benefit decisions much more complex than decades ago.
- Janet found single-person decision-making inadequate for values-laden choices like covering controversial care.