09/03/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/03/2024 12:46
The median mortgage payment in the U.S. is about $2,200 per month.1 The average cost of health insurance for a family of four in the U.S. is about $1,997.2 Despite the similar financial commitment involved, the decision-making process for selecting a house and electing medical benefits could not be more different.
The average homebuyer spends weeks, if not months, selecting the perfect house. In stark contrast, electing their medical benefits during an annual open enrollment takes them less than an hour on average.3
Why is the process of electing benefits so different from buying a house?
One reason for the disparity could be the tangible nature of purchasing a house. It's a physical asset you can see, touch, and visit, making the decision more engaging and concrete. On the other hand, electing medical benefits seems abstract and complex.
The disparity between these two crucial life decisions boils down to several factors:
What are the pitfalls of poor benefits decisions?
According to a survey in 2022, 43% of working-age adults were underinsured in the U.S.7 The risks of being underinsured range from limited access to healthcare and poor quality of care to large medical debt, delayed care, and worse. Medical debt is one of the top reasons for bankruptcy and the role of insufficient insurance in this regard cannot be discounted.8
While being underinsured can pose significant risks, being over insured also comes with its own set of challenges. Over insured can mean electing a plan with benefits that surpass your needs, and it can end up being excessive, wasteful, and expensive. What the employees need is the support to help educate them so they can elect the optimal medical benefits based on their needs. Just as they would expect guidance when understanding factors like interest rates, neighborhood quality, and long-term investment when buying a house, they also need clear information to elect their benefits.
Bridging the gap: TriNet and Healthee
When buying a house, there are many important things to consider such as the schools in the area, the neighborhood, access to amenities, and extra costs like property tax, utilities, etc. Electing a medical plan, too, involves critical considerations such as the doctors in the plan's network, plan deductibles, coinsurance, and the cost of prescription drugs.
Fortunately, there are companies like TriNet and Healthee that recognize the importance of benefits and the benefits election decision. We have introduced the benefits decision support tool powered by Healthee that takes the complexity out of benefit decisions.
It provides worksite employees with much-needed support and walks them through the process of electing benefits, empowering them to make an informed choice. It is a completely optional process where employees can choose whether to use assistance.
The tool prompts worksite employees to answer a few simple questions like their number of dependents, existing providers, and expected inpatient and outpatient procedure or surgeries.
After this, in a few steps outlined below, employees can elect the benefits plan.
Conclusion
While many employees may not currently invest much effort into electing their medical benefits as they do when buying a house, this dynamic needs to change. AI-powered benefits decision support tool helps employees better understand their insurance needs and available options. This can also help boost benefits enrollment rates and lead to increased satisfaction with the benefits package.
Through our relationship with Healthee, TriNet aims to facilitate a benefits election process that is as thorough and thoughtful as purchasing a home.
Sources:
1 Mortgage Application Payments Decreased 1.6 Percent to $2,219 in May | MBA (mba.org)
2What's the Average Cost of Family Health Insurance? | eHealth (ehealthinsurance.com)
4 Employees Want Voluntary Benefits but Don't Always Understand Them | SHRM (shrm.org)
5Number of The Day: Benefits Knowledge | Human Resource Executive (hrexecutive.com)
6Employees Want Help Understanding Benefits Offered by Employers | Ameritas (ameritas.com)
7The State of U.S. Health Insurance in 2022 | The Commonwealth Fund (commonwealthfund.org)
8Why Americans Are Drowning in Medical Debt | Marketplace (marketplace.org)