Unpacking the Healthcare Crisis: Delivering Equitable Health and Financial
Outcomes in 2022 and Beyond
All-time-high inflation rates, the fight to attract and retain top talent, the COVID-19 pandemic, and more are all impacting the way that both employees and HR teams think about benefits. The bottom line is, the healthcare crisis in America is stemming from a multitude of factors. Many of these can be alleviated through a better understanding and approach to benefits selection and utilization.
We’ve surveyed 100+ HR leaders and 600+ employees nationwide to unpack the way that benefits strategies are impacting employees and bring light to the health and financial realities facing Americans.
Employee Realities
47%
Take 2 or more hours to select benefits during open enrollment
73%
Of employees on HDHPs have felt their benefits have fallen short
66%
Have experienced an unplanned medical emergency
63%
Are not confident when selecting benefits without a decision support tool
Benefit Selection Confidence:
HR Perception vs. Employee Reality
Our findings indicate that while most HR leaders are confident to moderately confident that their employees understand their benefit options, the majority of employees do not have confidence when choosing benefits.
39%
Confident
How confident do you feel that your employees understand their benefits?
How confident are you when choosing benefits?
HR Leaders
Employees
Unconfident
18%
Moderate
43%
Confident
14%
Unconfident
39%
Moderate
23%
To better understand the challenges HR is facing, we posed the question, which of the following do you believe to be the biggest benefits-related challenges? Here’s what they said.
Ranking the Challenges of Benefits Management
Driving employee engagement and communication
59%
Voluntary benefits awareness and utilization
31%
In / out of network care steerage
20%
Benefits participation
12%
Other
9%
Managing changes due to qualifying life event
19%
We sought to understand, what the current strategies and means are for benefits education and communication, as well as how employees approach voluntary benefits and finding
in-network care.
The Status Quo
The top reported method of benefits education from HR during open enrollment came in the form of written materials outlining plans.
75%
61%
Of employees surveyed reported that without access to a decision support tool, they were unlikely to select Voluntary Benefits plans.
62%
The top reported method of finding in-network care was visiting an insurance carrier app or website.
It’s no secret that the U.S. labor market has undergone significant changes as a result of mass resignations. Businesses are seeking ways to retain and attract top talent. Our findings indicate that both HR and employees believe that benefits are a key factor in employee retention and attraction.
The Great Resignation: The Impact Benefits Have
How much of an impact do benefits have on employee retention and attracting new talent?
HR Leaders
Extreme Impact
39%
Little Impact
18%
Moderate Impact
43%
Do benefits matter when it comes to evaluating whether to stay at a company or to leave for a new opportunity?
HR Leaders
Yes: 90%
No: 10%
Employees ranked benefits as the second-most influential factor when evaluating whether to stay at a job or leave for a new opportunity.
Benefits Influence
• Compensation
• Benefits
• Culture
• Remote/ Hybrid Workplace
63%
of organizations are not offering new benefits
in 2022
67%
of those offering new benefits are adding “mental health and emotional wellbeing” programs
68%
do not plan to publicly share their benefits despite efforts to increase transparency and equity
Benefits Influence
The reality is, many Americans are currently facing record high inflation, medical debt, and a severe lack of understanding in the selection and application of benefits. Despite best efforts from businesses and HR teams, benefits planning and strategies are not meeting consumer needs. We need to bridge this gap, and support employees across America with education and confidence around benefits so that consumers across the nation can achieve health and financial equity.
What This All Means
Access our Consumer Analysis
Full Employee Findings
Access our Full HR Analysis
Full HR Findings