Alegeus Data Indicates Close to Half of Consumers Rate Their Healthcare Benefit Enrollment Experience as Average or Below

Waltham, MA — September 24, 2019 — Alegeus, the market leader in consumer-directed healthcare (CDH) solutions, today unveiled the results of its 2019 Open Enrollment Exit Poll, which found employers need to work more closely with their benefit broker and health plan partners to provide year-round education and decision support so that employees can be confident in the healthcare benefits they choose during open enrollment. According to results, close to half (46 percent) of consumers had an average, or less than average, open enrollment experience and 22 percent lacked confidence in the health plans and benefit accounts they ultimately selected.

Additional findings indicated:

  • Thirty percent of employers did not help their employees evaluate and pick their healthcare benefits, leading the majority of consumers (70 percent) to keep the same health plan they had the previous year.
  • More than half (56 percent) of consumers either didn’t understand the available options, were unsure what their out-of-pocket costs would be, couldn’t determine the best options for their families, or weren’t sure how much to contribute.
  • While HSA-qualified health plans were the most popular, half of the consumers who enrolled in the plan didn’t elect to open a complementary and tax-advantaged health savings account (HSA) – leaving them paying 30 percent more, on average, then necessary for their out-of-pocket healthcare.

Given that HSAs were created to help consumers save on their out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, these results confirm that there’s a significant lack of consumer fluency and understanding around healthcare benefit accounts and signals the need for employers to provide ongoing education, proactive guidance, and personalized support for their workforce.

“As consumers take on more responsibility for their healthcare costs, it’s important that they are supported and guided to make informed decisions,” said Steven Auerbach, Alegeus CEO. “It’s up to the CDH industry to ensure employers and consumers are not leaving billions of dollars in unused tax savings on the table each year. While open enrollment is an annual selection period, education initiatives should be a year-round focus for all employers.”

As data indicates the need for more advanced consumer education and assistance during the open enrollment process, Alegeus recently announced a Smart Account initiative that features machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver a more intuitive, personalized and self-guided account experience. Leveraging these advanced technologies, Alegeus provides broader support for the benefits lifecycle, guides employers and brokers to create smart plan designs, and helps consumers select the plans and/or accounts that best fit their needs by predicting conditions and costs of healthcare expenses and more.

To learn more, click here to view an infographic with additional insight into this Alegeus research, and for more information on the lack of consumer health and financial fluency that exists today, click here.

 

About Alegeus

With more than 25 years of growth and innovation, Alegeus is the market leader in SaaS-based healthcare payment solutions. Our highly flexible, white-label platform powers account-based benefit programs such as HSAs, FSAs, HRAs, COBRA, wellness incentives, lifestyle benefits and beyond. We deliver exceptional user experiences and differentiated capabilities that help our partners strengthen their product offerings, operate more efficiently, and unlock their full growth potential. Our partnerships with the industry’s leading health plans, third-party administrators, financial services and benefit solution providers give Alegeus unparalleled reach in the market. And our unique partnership model empowers our clients to achieve outsized results – growing their programs at a rate that is 2-3X the market, and with the highest net promoter scores (NPS) in the industry. We never compete with our clients – we win when they win. Alegeus is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., with operations centers in Orlando and Bangalore, and a large remote workforce.

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