Data transparency, debt consolidation and ID protection lead open enrollment wish list
In the thick of open enrollment season, savvy employers and benefit advisers have eased the onslaught of information with complex benefit jargon by spreading out employee sign-up before the mad fall rush. Employee Benefit Adviser spoke with Jeffrey Faber, HUB International Midwest’s chief operating officer, to discuss how employers are urging employees to save with data transparency tools, use interactive services to learn about new benefits and to sign up for identity protection.
EBA: How is open enrollment going for you and your clients?
Faber: We’re in the middle of open enrollment season and we are trying to lock down the last-minute decisions our clients have. Predominantly our business is a renewal business.
Our large groups have made their decisions already but our smaller groups are just finding out what their renewals are from the major medical carriers. We have our hands full trying to make sense of it all. But open enrollment is the focus. This is absolutely our busiest time of year. From mid-August to Halloween, and even mid-November, it seems to be getting longer and longer every year with all the nuances our clients require.
EBA: How does this enrollment season differ from previous years? Is there confusion over the ACA’s status? Is there a greater emphasis on voluntary benefits?
Faber: On the repeal of Obamacare, a lot of those decisions have been made too late for our employers to really have to pivot and they are unaffected largely by the executive orders and the talk from Congress. Of course, there's the specter that Congress will act and make a decision in the next couple of weeks, but that impact would probably be a 2019 event instead of a 2018 event.
On the voluntary benefits side, our clients are asking for financial and holistic tools to meet the employees where they live in regard to student loans, tuition assistance and debt consolidation services. ID theft has been a big conversation point in the last three or four months and has been heightened by the Equifax breach, but it started three years ago with the Target breach. A lot of employers want to understand their role in their employee’s lives,
And for voluntary benefits, most of our customers are moving to the consumer-driven model with higher deductibles, so accident insurance, critical injury insurance, and hospitalization – those are all nice bolt-on benefits for the medical benefits they have. It almost allows the employee to self-insure their own health. And HSAs and HRAs are still popular. We see a large uptick year over year over year.
EBA: Any other trends for this year’s open enrollment?
Faber: A few years ago, we joked that overall enrollment was the HR Super Bowl. It happened once a year, it was a three hour event with a bunch of commercials and no one really talked about it a week or two later.
Our clients have asked, what can we do the other 11 months a year? We have seen an increase in requests for interactive PDFs, on-demand video, and interactive guides directing folks to microsites or apps on their phone. We introduce these in April, May or June and if the employee needs this, they don't have to go back into their memory bank and access it, they can get it online. It is that year round learning that engages the customer.
EBA: Is this because employees are bombarded with information during open enrollment?
Faber: Yes and no. There is a lot of information that is required and that is distributed this time of year and there are a lot of decision points that they have to make for themselves and the benefit of their families. We put in place decision helping tools like Jellyvision’s ALEX and some other proprietary tools, that can help employees better make decisions.
But I think it is more toward trying to be a circuit breaker in an employee's head when they are accessing healthcare. That makes them stop and check, “Is this in network, do I have to get pre-authorization? How do I check for a lower cost across the street from a benefit provider?”
These things come out of the workshops this time of year, but if you are not hitting employees where they live at the time of use, you are missing those opportunities for significant cost savings. And not on just on the employer side but the employee side especially with high-deductible plans.
EBA: Is data transparency a big push for this open enrollment season?
Faber: Yes, especially when you consider that standalone imaging facilities are three to eight times less expensive than an in-house hospital facility. Employees need to understand that they will pay 100% of that cost until they meet that deductible in that consumer-driven plan, so there is every effort being made to make sure the employee is checking those transparency tools.
At open enrolment time, we make every effort to employees in the room to ID the nearest urgent care and ER facility, to write those down on a note card and put it in the visor of their car. So, they know at the moment of crisis to know where those places are and make decisions ahead of time.
EBA: Accountants say that from January to April 15, they don't see their families. Is it the same for you during open enrollment?
Faber: (Laughs) I grew up in an accounting family and I can attest to that. It is all hands on deck but our goal is to help clients get their decisions out of the way in Q1 and Q2. We try to help them with decisions that don't require immediacy and don’t have to be made right away, like life and disability insurance, and voluntary and wellness benefits. You can make a lot of those decisions in April, May and June.
Source:
Albinus P. (30 October 2017). "Data transparency, debt consolidation and ID protection lead open enrollment wish list" [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/data-transparency-debt-consolidation-and-id-protection-lead-open-enrollment-wish-list-says-hub-international-midwest-coo-jeffrey-faber?feed=00000152-1387-d1cc-a5fa-7fffaf8f0000
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Employers prefer paper-based approach for open enrollment
Sure, technology is great, but can it ever live up to a face-to-face sit down? Let's take a look at the facts from Employee Benefit Advisor.
Fewer than half of businesses use technology to handle annual enrollment or manage time off, Affordable Care Act reporting or benefits changes during the year, according to a recent white paper by one of the nation’s leading ancillary benefits providers.
Citing a 2017 LIMRA report entitled “Convenient and Connected: Employers and Benefits,” Colonial Life highlighted several reasons why employers are resisting the digital age. They believe their organization isn’t big enough (32%), a technology solution is too expensive (24%), they don’t have enough staff (16%), in-person meetings are more engaging, or it’s the preference of their broker or plan administrator (tied at 15%).
In fact, Colonial Life post-enrollment surveys from 2009 to 2016 show that 98% of employees understand their benefits better through 1-to-1 benefits counseling and 95% describe the personalized attention they received as valuable.
Steven Johnson, vice president in premier markets and enrollment solutions at Colonial Life, was surprised by the prevalence of “manual and outdated ways.” However, he also understands the tendency to resist change— noting, for example, how some people still maintain landlines in spite of a reliance on smartphones for calls, text, e-mail, social media and GPS directions.
“Slow adoption of technology can be especially true in the workplace,” he says. “Heavy dependence of the fax machine at many workplaces still baffles me with so much advanced technology available to perform the job better, faster and cheaper.”
For those employers looking to add capabilities to their benefits technology programs, the report noted that LIMRA found most cited cost reduction (36%) or control of benefit data (35%). Rounding out the list was reduced staff time (32%), improved benefits communications (29%) and better employee experience (27%).
Among the features most sought after for either benefits administration systems, enrollment technology or both, LIMRA said low cost led the way (87%), followed by data security (86%), ease of use for employees (85%), it’s accessible all year (80%), employees re-enrolled annually or all insurance benefits are on the same platform (77% apiece).
Colonial Life stressed the importance of providing personalized resource materials, such as web content, e-mails and one-to-one meetings, as well as ample time for employees to make wise choices for themselves and dependents. Another recommendation was that insurance carriers make available benefits counselors to help guide employees through their decisions.
Johnson urged benefit brokers and advisers to help educate their clients on affordable enrollment technology solutions that will greatly enhance the experience for their employees while also reducing administrative burdens and challenges for employers and plan administrators.
“A trusted benefits adviser can share case study examples from companies of similar size and industry to illustrate the benefits of adopting a benefits admin solution for enrollment,” he says. In addition, he suggests that employee survey feedback can be shared to help advance the argument that “the overall experience is far better for those who’ve used technology to help them make their important benefits decisions.”
Source:
Shutan B. (13 November 2017). "Employers prefer paper-based approach for open enrollment" [Web blog post]. Retrieved from address https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/employers-prefer-paper-based-approach-for-open-enrollment?brief=00000152-1443-d1cc-a5fa-7cfba3c60000
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