Gurdian Survey: Employees Are Confused About Their Health Coverage and Have
No Plans for Healthcare Retirement
Story by www.InsuranceJournal.com
According to a recent Guardian survey, women (58%) were more likely than men
(47%) to find paying for healthcare premiums and out of pocket costs a
challenge. But women (51%) are more likely than men (42%) to have done some
retirement healthcare planning.
Gender seems to play a role in the perceptions about paying for healthcare, but
employees of both sexes generally do not understand their healthcare coverage.
Education and region are also factors that play a role in viewpoints about
paying for and understanding healthcare.
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, a leading provider of employee
and voluntary benefits, including group medical plans conducted the survey,
Benefits & Behavior: Spotlight on Group Medical to gain insight about
consumer viewpoints on health, wellness and medical insurance. This second
segment of the study focused on consumer knowledge of health insurance
fundamentals and perceptions about the cost of care. The first part of the
study, released earlier this year, focused on consumer views about wellness.
Making Dollars and Sense of Healthcare
-- Two-thirds of the employees surveyed said that healthcare plans in
general and healthcare coverage and benefits are difficult to
understand.
-- 65% of respondents without a college education said their healthcare
expenses were a substantial or great challenge compared to 40% of those
with a college degree.
-- More than 1 in 5 respondents did not fill a prescription because of the
cost involved.
-- Less than 50% of Boomers are currently planning or believe they are
fully prepared financially for their healthcare in retirement.
Respondents living in the North Central and Southern regions saw paying for
healthcare as more of a challenge than those in the West.
Paying for healthcare is a substantial/great challenge
-- 59% North Central
-- 56% South
-- 50% Northeast
-- 40% West
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Employees don't fully understand some of the basic health care alphabet such
as FSA (flexible spending account), HSA (health savings account) and HRA
(health reimbursement account).
-- Just over half of employees are aware of flexible spending accounts
and
health savings accounts in contrasts to four in ten aware of health
reimbursement accounts.
-- While two-thirds of those aware of FSAs and HSAs believe they can
explain those plans to a co-worker, only about half of the respondents
aware of HRAs feel they could do so.
"As women continue to make strides in the workforce and gain
earning parity with men this may help to lessen the gender discrepancy
we see with paying for healthcare," said Tim Bireley, vice
president, Group Medical, Guardian. "Guardian is committed to
working with small and midsize business owners to help mitigate the
impact of health care inflation and to help employers offer
high-quality affordable health care benefits to their employees."
Guardian recently launched a program -- Guardian Premium Protect(SM)
-- to help business owners with 51 to 150 employees lock-in health
care rates for two years to avoid double-digit premium increases. The
program involves predictable employee cost sharing and empowers
employers to pass premium savings down to employees by setting up
health reimbursement accounts.
Guardian's health plan includes a pharmacy benefit management program
to help reduce the costs of prescription drugs for small and midsize
business owners and their employees.
Added Bireley, "The need and opportunity to educate consumers
transcend gender. A 2006 Guardian study revealed that employees spend
less time reviewing their benefits than they do holiday shopping. It
isn't enough for insurers and benefit decision makers to develop
products and provide educational brochures. We have to make sure that
employees are fully absorbing information. We have to consistently
surround the consumer and share information with them at several touch
points until they have a solid understanding of their healthcare
benefits."
Burgers, Cigarettes, Pills and Lawsuits
Respondents shared their viewpoints about key contributors to medical
inflation and identified profits from pharmaceutical companies as the
top cause for healthcare costs. Collectively employees recognized
their own behavior as a key factor in the mounting cost of healthcare
and expressed interest in taking more control over their health to
reduce medical expenses.
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Factor most responsible for increasing costs of healthcare
-- Profits of drug companies (28%)
-- Lawsuits against physicians (14%)
-- Physician fees and salaries (9%)
-- Poor health of the population (10%)
-- Obesity (9%)
-- Aging population (9%)
-- Cost of prescriptions (8%)
-- Smoking (5%)
Population factors in total
-- Poor health, obesity, aging and smoking (33%)
-- Two-thirds of all employees and 85% of those who are currently
enrolled
or have participated in a wellness program in the past three years
say
that these programs are very effective in promoting good health.
"Guardian is focused on helping small and midsize business
owners and their employees lead healthier and happier lives,"
Susan O'Connor, assistant vice president, Group Medical. "We
have wellness programs embedded in our health plans such as our
complementary alternative medicine and gym membership discounts.
These programs are especially valuable to companies with 2 to 150
employees because smaller establishments don't always have
resources for an onsite gym or a company nurse."
Mandatory Healthcare -- Size Matters
Employees hold larger companies to a higher standard with regard
to mandatory health insurance coverage. Employees believe
companies should be required to provide health insurance if they
have:
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-- <50 employees (53%)
-- 50-99 employees (67%)
-- 100-1000 employees (76%)
-- >1000 employees (79%)
"There is no panacea for some of the challenges that we
face, but educating and empowering employees, particularly at
smaller companies, are critical to the success of our
healthcare system," said Kerri Mansberg, Second Vice
President, Group Medical, "Guardian's focus on small and
midsize companies is important because attention is often
given to larger enterprises. According to the U.S. Department
of Commerce, small firms (1 to 500 employees) represent more
than 99% of all employer firms and employ about half of the
private sector workforce. It is time for health plans to cater
to this vital market."
About The Study
The telephone survey conducted on October 2007 consisted of
473 individuals who were at least 18 years of age and who said
that were employed either full or part time. The margin of
error was plus or minus 6.4 percentage points at the 95%
confidence level.
The company has issued a series of educational surveys and
reports to help employees, employers and benefit decision
makers better understand how they can jumpstart their
financial lives, improve employee recruitment, retention and
satisfaction by maximizing the use and power of their
workplace coverage.
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