Businesses across the board, from automakers to tech companies to taxpayer-funded school systems, spend a large portion of their budgets on employees in the form of salary and benefits. A rapidly growing percentage of these costs go to fund employee healthcare benefits. The expense is significant for both employers and employees.

Over the years, employees have been asked to contribute increasingly more toward their own healthcare coverage. As the rising costs of healthcare benefits and the rising percentage of employee contributions converge, companies across America are faced with a new scenario that finds them looking for ways to reduce healthcare spending and protect their employees’ contributions.