Insurance carrier planning for next year? Read on!

With most organizations having wrapped up open enrollment for 2022, it’s time for insurance carriers to reflect and strategize for 2023. We referenced past findings from Eastbridge to determine 2 barriers to participation that are influencing carriers to look at new tech to drive participation 2023.

Barrier 1: Driving up voluntary benefits participation

Eastbridge found that driving up participation in voluntary benefits leads to higher sales, and that voluntary product participation increases when employees enroll in voluntary products at the same time as medical, dental, and other core benefits.

Insurance carriers who experienced an increase in voluntary benefits participation noted that those rates typically improved when enrolled in at the same time and using the same process as other core benefits. They noted the following reasons as to why:

• “Core benefits” are often thought of as mandatory. When the enrollment process for voluntary benefits is similar, it makes these feel required as well.
• Similar processes and same-time enrollment provides employee with better access and engagement.
• It increased opportunities for educating employees around their own benefit needs.

Carriers are looking at tech for 2023 that can incorporate the enrollment of voluntary benefits solutions into the same workflow as other core benefits. If your goal is to drive up participation in voluntary benefits plans, technology that can present them alongside core benefits and educate employees on which plans are best for their needs is definitely something you should look at.

Barrier 2. Benefits education and communication

The majority of carriers indicated that employer-level commitment to the proposed education, communication, and enrollment strategy is the most limiting factor to participation rate improvements

The study found that the biggest thing holding 79% of carriers back from increasing overall participation rates is employer benefits education and strategy. Meaning, if employers improved their overall education and communication around benefits, the majority of carriers could improve participation during open enrollment. This is leading carriers to bring in new technology that can improve overall education and communication surrounding benefits.

What new tech can help carriers overcome these barriers?

The findings in this report highlight the varying ways carriers can strategize about 2023 open enrollment. But the million dollar question remains: how can you confidently approach open enrollment season with certainty that your participation rates will increase? Based on these findings, carriers need a tool that can drive up participation in voluntary benefits specifically, and a tool that can empower employers to better educate their employees during open enrollment.

Nayya provides step by step decision support and AI driven benefits recommendations to provide employees with a suggested benefits bundle that best fits their financial and medical needs. Employees get the education they need and visibility into the voluntary benefit options they may have been missing out on before. This solves for 2 major enrollment-driving challenges:

1. Voluntary benefits: Nayya’s recommendations clearly identify which voluntary benefits are available to employees. As we learned in the Eastbridge study, a focus on voluntary benefits leads to higher sales. We also learned that voluntary benefits are most often enrolled in when they are presented alongside other “core benefits.” Nayya’s personalized benefit recommendations are displayed as a menu of benefits that best fit an employee’s needs, presenting those voluntary benefits right alongside medical, dental, and other core benefits. This improves the chances of employees enrolling in these voluntary programs.
2. Employee education: 79% of carriers believe that participation would increase if employees were properly educated on their plan options. By leveraging a tool like Nayya, employees will be educated throughout their open enrollment journey and provided with a menu of benefits options best suited to their needs. This gives employees peace of mind and confidence when choosing their benefits.

When the process is transparent and less complex, employees feel more confident in their choices leading to better financial and health outcomes. Offering a platform like Nayya can empower insurance carriers to overcome the barriers leading to stagnant participation rates, a lack of enthusiasm around voluntary benefits, and a shortage of benefits-education from employers.