Open Enrollment Often a Stressful Time for Employees

As the open-enrollment season for health benefits approaches, many workers will be making some bad choices, according to a new survey. "Far too many people don't really understand their benefits," says Audrey Tillman, executive vice president of Corporate Services at Aflac. "In fact, most employees are on autopilot." The majority of American workers — 56% — estimate that they waste up to $750 each year because of costly mistakes they have made with their health insurance benefits, according to the Aflac WorkForces Report, a July survey of more than 2,000 consumers released last week.

This is the second year Aflac has conducted a health care survey, and the situation is getting worse. In 2011, 24% of workers were confident about their decisions, compared to 16% this year.

Among common errors that Aflac found:

•Many employees, 89%, say that they simply elect the same benefits options every year, regardless whether their personal situation or circumstances change.

•Nearly half of workers (47%) say that they rarely or never exceed their deductible costs.

•Only 16% contribute the right amount to flexible spending accounts.

But Americans clearly understand that selecting health benefits is an important issue. Rising out-of-pocket medical expenses are one of the most costly financial burdens they face, say 43% of workers, Aflac found.

As benefits change, workers need to pay closer attention to their selections during open enrollment, the experts say. Many plans have started increasing in-network deductibles, emergency room co-payments, and prescription drug co-payments. But there also are some new plan benefits that could help workers as more companies offer financial incentives to promote wellness and health-improvement programs.

Coalitions have a unique role to play in assisting their employer members to educate their employees about these important issues.  With issues related to health insurance exchanges, and Medicaid expansion on the horizon, employers are going to be relied upon more and more to educate and inform their employees about the choices they have regarding health benefits.