Marty Levy

For decades, employee benefits followed a predictable formula: health insurance, dental, vision, maybe a 401(k), and a few fringe perks.

But today’s workforce is different and their expectations are evolving faster than traditional benefits programs can keep up.

Employers are now competing not just on salary, but on quality of life. Workers want benefits that actually impact their daily lives: wellness, family support, mental health resources, personal development, and flexibility.

That’s where a new category of benefits platforms like JOON is gaining traction.

What Is JOON?

JOON is a flexible lifestyle benefits platform that allows employers to provide employees with personalized wellness and lifestyle benefits through a reimbursement model. Instead of offering one-size-fits-all perks, companies can give employees a monthly allowance that can be used across categories such as fitness, education, family care, or mental health. (Capterra)

Here’s what makes the model different.

Employees simply connect their personal credit or debit card to the platform, make eligible purchases, and the system automatically verifies and reimburses them no paperwork or complicated claims required. (JOON)

The result is a benefits experience that feels more like everyday life than traditional HR administration.

Why Employers Are Paying Attention

One of the biggest challenges employers face is benefit utilization.

Companies spend significant money on programs that employees either don’t understand or rarely use.

Platforms like JOON flip that equation.

With a reimbursement-based structure, employers only pay for benefits that employees actually use, rather than distributing stipends that may or may not serve their intended purpose. (JOON)

That creates a powerful feedback loop:

• Employees choose benefits that matter to them
• Employers fund only real usage
• Engagement increases
• Retention improves

For employers trying to make benefits dollars work harder, that’s an appealing model.

Benefits That Reflect Real Life

Traditional benefits programs tend to reflect what employers think employees need.

Lifestyle benefits reflect what employees actually want.

Through platforms like JOON, employers can create categories such as:

• Fitness and wellness
• Mental health support
• Professional development
• Healthy food and nutrition
• Family and childcare
• Commuting or transportation
• Pet care
• Continuing education

This flexibility is important because today’s workforce spans multiple generations, lifestyles, and priorities. One employee may value a gym membership while another prefers childcare support or online learning.

Lifestyle benefits allow both to feel supported without forcing employers to manage dozens of separate programs.

A Simpler Experience for HR

Another advantage is administrative efficiency.

Traditional reimbursement programs often require HR teams to manually review receipts, answer employee questions, and track eligibility.

Modern benefits platforms automate much of that work by integrating with payroll and HR systems and automatically categorizing eligible purchases. (Forma)

In many cases, HR teams can manage the entire program with minimal monthly oversight.

Why This Matters for Recruitment and Retention

The competition for talent has shifted dramatically over the past decade.

Today’s employees increasingly evaluate companies based on culture, flexibility, and lifestyle support, not just compensation.

Lifestyle spending accounts and flexible benefits are becoming an important tool for employers trying to:

• attract talent
• improve engagement
• support employee wellbeing
• differentiate themselves from competitors

Companies using flexible lifestyle benefit platforms report significantly higher participation rates compared with traditional point-solution benefits. (Justworks)

That’s because employees see these benefits as personal, flexible, and meaningful.

The Bigger Trend

The emergence of platforms like JOON reflects a broader shift happening across employee benefits.

Benefits are moving away from rigid, one-size-fits-all programs and toward personalized experiences that support the whole person.

Employers who adapt to this shift are more likely to create workplaces where employees feel supported, valued, and engaged.

And in a labor market where talent has choices, that can make all the difference.

Cost-Sharing Programs vs. Real Insurance

As Affordable Care Act subsidies expire and premiums jump for millions of Americans, the health insurance marketplace is quietly shifting in a dangerous direction.

People aren’t just shopping for better plans.

Many are abandoning real insurance altogether.

Faced with dramatic premium increases, families are turning to “alternatives” like Medi-Share, Christian Health Ministries, and other medical cost-sharing programs. These options are marketed as affordable, community-based solutions that look and feel like insurance.

But they are not insurance.

And in many cases, they do not protect families when it matters most.

The Illusion of Coverage

Cost-sharing programs operate outside state insurance regulation. They are not legally required to pay claims, cap out-of-pocket costs, or guarantee coverage for serious illness.

They can:

• Decline claims
• Limit reimbursements
• Change rules mid-stream
• Set internal caps without regulatory oversight

When care is routine, the system may appear to work.

But healthcare is not routine.

When someone faces cancer, transplants, neonatal care, or trauma — claims in the hundreds of thousands or millions — there is no insurance company standing behind that promise. There is only a pool of other participants and a committee deciding what they are willing to share.

That is not protection.

That is hope.

The Real Financial Risk

The danger isn’t medical access. It’s financial collapse.

When catastrophic illness meets inadequate coverage:

• Savings disappear
• Retirement accounts are liquidated
• Home equity is tapped
• Homes are sold
• Long-term security is permanently damaged

Not because care was unavailable.

But because people believed they were insured — when they were not.

This is how decades of financial stability can vanish with a single diagnosis.

Why This Is Happening Now

Enhanced ACA subsidies temporarily hid the true cost of health insurance. For several years, many middle-income families paid artificially low premiums.

Now those subsidies are expiring.

Premiums are resetting to real prices.

And millions are experiencing shock.

The system did not prepare consumers for this transition. So they do what people always do when prices rise — they look for cheaper substitutes.

Even if the substitute does not truly work.

The Negotiation Myth

Cost-sharing programs often claim they “negotiate” medical bills like insurers.

They do not.

Insurance carriers have contracted networks, negotiated rates, legal standing, and regulatory oversight. Cost-sharing programs rely largely on provider goodwill, cash discounts, and informal negotiations.

In major hospital systems, that difference is not small.

It is the difference between protection and exposure.

A System Under Strain

As more healthy people exit real insurance, risk pools weaken. Premiums rise further. More people leave.

This cycle threatens the stability of the entire market.

At the same time, more families are walking into catastrophic financial risk without realizing it.

Final Thought

Health insurance exists for one reason:

To protect families from financial disaster when health fails.

When programs offer the illusion of protection instead of real protection, the consequences are not  theoretical – people find a way to pay for everything that is important for them and this is unfortunately something we will all have to continue to navigate and manage until a better alternative comes along.

A few years ago, if someone told you that artificial intelligence would be helping people interpret lab work, prepare for doctor visits, and even guide them toward treatment options, it would have sounded like science fiction. Today, it’s quietly becoming part of everyday healthcare.

With OpenAI’s recent move into healthcare through what’s now being called ChatGPT Health, the question isn’t whether AI will influence medicine — it already is. The more interesting question is how far it goes, and what role it plays alongside real physicians.

What’s Actually Changing

Healthcare has always struggled with one major problem: information overload with very little clarity. Patients receive test results, notes, portals, summaries, and instructions — often without context or explanation. Most people leave doctor visits remembering only a fraction of what was discussed.

AI tools like ChatGPT are stepping into that gap.

The idea behind ChatGPT Health isn’t to diagnose or replace doctors. It’s to help people make sense of their health information — lab trends, medication questions, symptoms, and even what questions they should be asking next. Think of it less as a doctor and more as a highly organized, always-available health translator.

That distinction matters.

Why This Feels Different Than “Dr. Google”

We’ve all Googled symptoms. That usually leads to anxiety, confusion, or worst-case scenarios. AI is different because it can be contextual. It remembers what you’ve shared, recognizes patterns, and frames information in plain language — not alarmist headlines.

For many people, this becomes a way to prepare for a visit rather than replace one. Better questions. Better understanding. Better engagement.

And that alone is a meaningful shift.

Telehealth Has Already Normalized This Behavior

At the same time AI is evolving, telehealth has quietly changed how people access care.

Companies like Amazon One Medical now offer on-demand virtual visits for common conditions — including things like UTIs, sinus infections, pink eye, anxiety, and routine prescription needs. You describe symptoms, interact with a licensed clinician, and in many cases a prescription is sent directly to a pharmacy without stepping into an office.

For straightforward, episodic issues, this model works — and consumers have embraced it.

What’s important is recognizing the direction of travel:
People are already comfortable getting healthcare guidance digitally.

AI simply becomes the front door — helping people decide when they need care, what kind of care they need, and how urgent the situation actually is.

So… Is ChatGPT Your Next Internist?

Not exactly — and that’s the wrong way to frame it.

AI isn’t replacing internists any time soon. It doesn’t examine you. It doesn’t order imaging. It doesn’t make judgment calls in complex or ambiguous cases. And it shouldn’t.

What it does do is something medicine has struggled with for decades:
give people time, clarity, and continuity.

• Time to think through symptoms
• Clarity around confusing medical language
• Continuity between visits, test results, and lifestyle data

That makes patients better informed — and frankly, better partners in their own care.

The More Likely Future

The future of healthcare isn’t AI versus doctors. It’s AI supporting both patients and clinicians.

• Patients show up better prepared
• Physicians spend less time explaining basics and more time treating
• Telehealth handles routine care efficiently
• In-person medicine focuses on what truly requires human judgment

In that model, AI doesn’t replace the internist — it acts more like a clinical assistant, educator, and guide that never gets tired.

And for a system under pressure from cost, access issues, and burnout, that may be exactly what healthcare needs.

The real takeaway isn’t whether ChatGPT becomes your doctor.
It’s that healthcare is finally starting to meet people where they already are — informed, digital, and looking for clarity.

For decades, COBRA compliance has been one of those “necessary evils” for employers — a regulatory requirement buried in HR checklists and legal manuals. Under federal law, employers offering group health plans must allow eligible former employees and their families the option to continue coverage when employment ends or hours are reduced. Employers must notify departing workers and ensure the paperwork is handled correctly — or face compliance risk.

But once that obligation is met, the experience has traditionally ended abruptly.

A health plan continuation notice. A severance package. Laptop access terminated. Key cards turned in. And then — goodbye.

For many employees, especially those who have spent years or even decades with an organization, this moment feels less like a transition and more like being cut loose. After long careers of contribution and loyalty, they are suddenly left to navigate healthcare, income uncertainty, and job transition entirely on their own.

The Human Side of Off-Boarding Has Long Been Ignored

Historically, COBRA administration has been treated as a purely transactional exercise. Employers — even thoughtful, well-intentioned ones — have focused on compliance while overlooking the emotional and practical complexity of what happens next.

Yet the COBRA election window often coincides with one of the most stressful periods in a person’s life:

• Confusion around deadlines and eligibility
• Sticker shock when premiums shift from employer-subsidized to employee-paid
• Lack of clarity around alternatives like the individual market, Medicare, or Medicaid
• No support for related coverage decisions such as dental, vision, or life insurance

Compliance may have been satisfied, but support was not.

A New Model Emerges: COBRA Compliance Meets Employee Assistance

That dynamic is starting to change.

A new category of solutions is emerging that reframes off-boarding as more than an administrative ending. Companies like Kept.io are helping redefine what COBRA support can look like by combining compliance with education, guidance, and practical transition support — something that closely resembles an Employee Assistance Program for departing employees.

Instead of simply handing someone a COBRA notice, this approach provides:

• Clear, understandable guidance around COBRA mechanics and timelines
• Support in evaluating alternatives such as exchange plans, subsidies, Medicare, or Medicaid
• Help identifying gaps in coverage, including dental, vision, and life insurance
• Resources that extend beyond insurance, including job placement and transition support

This creates a bridge — not just between employment and healthcare coverage, but between one chapter of a career and the next.

Why This Matters to Employers

The way an organization treats employees at the moment they leave often leaves a deeper impression than how they were treated while they stayed.

A more thoughtful off-boarding experience:

• Preserves dignity during a vulnerable moment
• Reduces confusion and poor decision-making around healthcare
• Strengthens employer brand and long-term reputation
• Aligns compliance obligations with cultural values

Former employees don’t vanish. They become future hires, referral sources, customers, and ambassadors — or detractors. How they experience their exit matters.

CorpStrat®’s Perspective

At CorpStrat®, we spend every day working with employers on benefits strategy, risk management, and workforce planning. We also see firsthand where systems fall short — particularly at moments of transition.

That’s why CorpStrat® principals have chosen to invest in Kept.io

Not simply as a vendor relationship, but because we believe in the concept: that terminated employees deserve more than a packet and a deadline. We believe COBRA electees should be supported, educated, and treated as consumers navigating complex decisions — not as administrative loose ends.

We also hope insurance carriers and the broader benefits ecosystem continue to move in this direction, embracing more consumer-centric thinking around COBRA elections and post-employment coverage.

Looking Ahead

COBRA was designed as a safety net — not a roadmap. But today’s workforce demands more clarity, more support, and more humanity at moments of change.

Startups like Kept.io represent an important cultural shift — one that moves off-boarding from cold compliance to thoughtful transition. While the path of any startup may evolve, the direction here matters.

The future of employee benefits will be shaped not only by how companies care for people while they are employed — but by how they help them move forward when they are not.

If you want to understand where healthcare in America is headed, start with this simple truth: health insurance has become a political hot button not because insurers suddenly changed, but because costs continue to rise faster than wages, inflation, and expectations. Over the past year, this tension came to a head when Congress effectively shut down for months over a single issue—whether to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that were introduced during COVID.

Those subsidies made coverage meaningfully more affordable for millions of Americans. When they expired, outrage followed.

The debate wasn’t just about dollars. It was about equity, affordability, and who ultimately bears responsibility for a system that feels increasingly fragile.

The ACA Subsidy Cliff: A Manufactured Crisis

Beginning January 1, 2026, millions of Americans face what policymakers call the ACA subsidy cliff. Temporary enhanced subsidies disappear, and for many households—particularly older individuals and families earning just above traditional subsidy thresholds—premiums could double or even triple overnight.

For some higher-income households over age 50, annual premiums could jump from under $10,000 to more than $30,000 per year. That isn’t a market correction—it’s a shockwave.

Lawmakers on both sides acknowledge this problem. What they don’t agree on is how to fix it, or whether extending subsidies indefinitely is fiscally or structurally sound.

Congress Weighs a New Direction

In December, House Republicans rolled out the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act, a sweeping package that includes:

• Expanded access to Association Health Plans (AHPs)
• Major reforms and transparency requirements for Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)
• Limits on states’ ability to regulate stop-loss insurance for self-funded plans
• A reboot of Individual Coverage HRAs (ICHRAs)—renamed under the proposed CHOICE Arrangement Act

Notably, the bill does not extend enhanced ACA premium subsidies, though it does fund the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction program starting in 2027.

Translation: Congress may act on healthcare this year—but not necessarily in a way that stabilizes the ACA marketplaces.

The Uncomfortable Truth: Insurance Companies Aren’t the Villain

Public discourse often paints insurers as the problem. But insurers have always been what they are today: risk managers and administrators, operating within the costs imposed on them.

The real cost drivers are elsewhere:

• Explosive growth in healthcare technology
• Astronomical pharmaceutical pricing
• Consolidation among hospital systems
• A lack of meaningful price transparency

Insurance companies didn’t create these dynamics—they react to them.

Vilifying insurers may be politically convenient, but it does nothing to address the structural forces driving premiums higher year after year.

Market “Solutions” With Real Tradeoffs

Association Health Plans and expanded ICHRAs sound appealing—and for some employers, they may be. But there’s a downside that policymakers rarely discuss:

They siphon healthier groups out of the ACA risk pool.

When younger, healthier populations exit the ACA marketplaces, the remaining pool becomes older and sicker—driving premiums even higher for those who depend on ACA coverage the most.

That’s not reform. That’s fragmentation.

Ironically, many of the “solutions” being proposed to reduce costs may undermine the very stability of the ACA, accelerating the problem they aim to solve.

Is the Government Going to Fix This? Probably Not.

History suggests the federal government is unlikely to step in as a long-term insurer or price controller. Healthcare will remain a market-based system, even as regulation ebbs and flows.

That means:

• Employers will continue to explore alternative funding models
• Individuals will face more responsibility—and complexity—in coverage decisions
• Innovation will come from market forces, not sweeping federal overhauls

What Comes Next

Healthcare in America is at an inflection point. Premium subsidies, association plans, ICHRAs, PBM reform—all of these matter. But none of them are silver bullets.

The real solution will require:

• Honest conversations about cost drivers
• Smarter risk pooling—not weaker
• Market-based innovation with guardrails, not political theater

Until then, volatility—not stability—will remain the norm.

And for employers, individuals, and families, navigating this environment will require clarity, strategy, and proactive planning more than ever before.