A Uniprise® Case Study: SkyWest Airlines

About SkyWest Headquartered in St. George, Utah, SkyWest, Inc., is the parent company of SkyWest Airlines, which
Airlines operates as an independently owned partner carrier to Delta and United Airlines. SkyWest has more than
9,000 employees at more than 50 locations.

Why Consumer Choice — Offer more flexibility and a higher degree of choice and control for their employee base.
Driven Healthcare
Strategy — Offer a benefit that provides a tax-advantaged savings vehicle to encourage employees to save for
their health care needs.

Transparency — Educate employees on the true cost of health care, and encourage them to think about their
health care choices.

Providing a SkyWest’s health care philosophy is to provide employees with choices that suit their individual needs, and
Consumer Driven in doing so, they have provided all employees with at least two options. Prior to 2005, the company offered
Plan two PPO plans, one of which had a high deductible. In addition to these two plans, high employee
concentration locations such as Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and California, were offered an
additional HMO option.

As a result of rising costs and a need to make employees more aware of and responsible for the health care
dollars they spend, SkyWest determined it was time for a change. With approval from senior management,
SkyWest removed the high deductible PPO plan and replaced it with a DefinitySM HSA.

Plan Roll Out During 2005 open enrollment, SkyWest:

Strategies • Worked with Uniprise on a direct mail campaign to all employees two weeks before open enrollment,
providing them with the plan design details regarding their new HSA.
• Issued their “My Benefits Guide” to all employees outlining the new HSA benefit, in addition to the other
plans offered, to provide employees with an easy-to-use reference to see how each plan compared to the
others. An online plan cost calculator was also developed for 2006 open enrollment.
• Representatives from SkyWest, Definity Health, and other carriers (where available) conducted in-
person open enrollment meetings at nine hub locations so employees could make side-by-side
comparisons, ask questions, etc.
• Required all employees to enroll or re-enroll in their benefits plan via the SkyWest intranet to encourage
careful decision making rather than maintaining the status quo.

“With the addition of the Definity HSA to our traditional health plans, we’re able to
provide our employees with a portable, tax-advantaged savings option that will help
them save for their current and future health care needs. Our employees now have the
increased ability to choose the best plan for their individual needs, and it provides
SkyWest with a consumer driven option that engages employees and reduces costs.”

– Bryce Higgins, Benefits Director, SkyWest Airlines.

Ongoing Employee SkyWest conducted on-going mailings three times a year to HSA enrollees to ensure those
Communications employees were continually reminded of the benefits of an HSA, how the plan worked, and
how they can increase their savings. In addition, those employees who were not contributing
to their HSA also received a targeted communication reminding them of their plan benefits,
plan design details, and the importance of saving throughout the year.

To encourage enrollment, SkyWest provided those employees choosing the HSA with $500 to
seed their account in the hope it would help employees start on the path to saving. This one
time incentive, available to only first time enrollees, was very popular with employees, and
has been continued for 2006.

For 2006, SkyWest expanded their direct mail campaign to all employees, and included
literature providing an overview of the employee’s chosen plan and a series of useful tips
ranging from how to save for future health care needs; how to optimize their current
benefits; and how to better communicate with their physician; to name a few. Also new for
2006, a special edition newsletter was distributed to all employees providing a first year
review of the HSA plan, including plan design highlights and testimonials from employees
who had been on the plan in 2005.

2005 Results • Membership in the Definity HSA accounted for 14% of the total
health plan enrollment, meeting SkyWest’s first year target
• 95% of those enrolled utilized in-network care; especially
significant considering the company’s “spread out” workforce
• Definity HSA membership increased 51% for 2006
• Strong membership growth illustrates the plan’s popularity
among SkyWest employees

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