Open enrollment season is here. Despite making big decisions that will affect the scope and cost of their healthcare services, workers often do not ask the right questions — or feel comfortable asking questions at all.
“There’s still a fear of job discrimination based on health status,” said Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Those worries can sprout when an employee needs to access care — be it for genetic conditions, mental health reasons or even trying to have a baby. People may “fear employers are going to discriminate against people who use healthcare,” he said.
Here’s what HR can do to make sure workers are asking questions so they can choose the right benefits.
Encourage workers to ask questions by meeting them where they are
If employees aren’t coming to HR with questions about open enrollment, it’s not necessarily because they hate HR, said Haydeé Acebo, human resources expert and author of The Power of Asking For Help.
“People are not used to asking for help,” she said. Re-enrolling in the same plan might seem the easiest option, even if they don’t investigate whether their costs, deductible or coverage changes.
To meet employees where they are, HR can offer assistance in a variety of formats. Meeting with small groups of employees can be more effective and feel more comfortable than having one company-wide benefits session, she said. “Who wants to ask a question to the CEO in front of 500 people?” she said.
Companies can also set up an email inbox or a chat where workers can ask questions anonymously and then share the answers to those questions widely. HR may also want to offer office hours where they are available to answer questions too, she said.
Bringing in additional help
Sometimes employees will be more comfortable asking questions to a tool offered to them by their employer instead of directly to said employer, said Fronstin. One way to do that is through a third party acting as a concierge or navigation service that will answer employee questions but will not report back any identifiable information back to the employer.
That doesn’t mean employers don’t get any information. Companies receive statistics like how many people called, average length of call and what percentage of employees asked about specific coverage benefits, such as for mental health or infertility, which can show an employer what its employees really want from their benefits package.
“If they’re finding people asking for benefits that they’re not offering, they may add it,” he said.
Companies can also implement an AI tool to help people navigate benefits, whether it’s built internally or comes from a vendor. Such tools can help people sort through different plan options and match their selections to what they anticipate they’ll need healthcare-wise in the next year.
Help workers beyond the enrollment period
While open enrollment happens once a year, workers use healthcare year-round, and employers can help them with choices about treatment, too, said Fronstin. Employers should be in constant conversation with workers so they can get a better handle on what is available to them — and at the best price.
“We’re at a point where the data and technology is there to get people information about cost and quality” of just about everything healthcare related, including doctors, medication, imaging and elective services, he said. “This is the kind of stuff we never had before, and it could change the way we use healthcare.”
Employers should encourage workers to use services that can help them look for the best prices and services where applicable. “An emergency room visit is not a shoppable service, but imaging is a shoppable service…even things like colonoscopies and endoscopies and hernia repairs,” he said.
