Many Workers Struggle With Basic Health Benefit Terms, Watson Wyatt Survey FindsWASHINGTON, July 9, 2007 – Many U.S. employees don’t understand how their health care coverage works and admit their familiarity with the most basic health care vocabulary needs improvement, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.
In its survey of nearly 2,100 covered workers, Watson Wyatt found that a top challenge for 43 percent of workers is understanding what their health care plan covers. Moreover, less than half are comfortable explaining common health benefit terms, such as co-pay or deductible, to a friend or coworker. And fewer than one in four feels comfortable describing health savings accounts, coinsurance and terms such as formulary and center of excellence.
|
Benefit Term |
Percentage of workers
comfortable describing term |
|
Co-pay |
49% |
|
Deductible |
46 |
|
Flexible spending account |
36 |
|
Out-of-pocket maximum |
35 |
|
Lifetime maximum |
27 |
|
Health savings account |
24 |
|
Coinsurance |
22 |
|
Formulary |
16 |
|
Center of excellence |
8 |
“It’s hard for employers to ask employees to take more responsibility for their health care when they are not speaking the same language,” said Kathryn Yates, global director of communication consulting at Watson Wyatt. “Helping employees improve their health care literacy and learn the terminology can make or break a company’s health care efforts overall.”
The survey also found that most employees like to receive communication about their health care benefits in print. When asked to rate several delivery channels, about seven in ten said they prefer print materials mailed to their home or provided at work. Slightly fewer (64 percent) prefer receiving information via the Internet. Less than half (46 percent) favor face-to-face meetings. Interestingly, only a slight a majority (52 percent) of employees read all the materials provided by their employer during the annual health care enrollment process. Three percent do not read any of the materials, and the remainder reads either only what is needed to enroll or only information about changes to the plans.
“It’s essential to communicate with employees in ways that meet their needs and preferences,” Yates said. “By using a mix of channels and formats, employers can effectively increase understanding and empower employees to become smarter health care consumers.”
More information on the Employee Perspectives on Health Care study can be found here.
About Watson Wyatt Worldwide
Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) is the trusted business partner to the world’s leading organizations on people and financial issues. The firm’s global services include: managing the cost and effectiveness of employee benefit programs; developing attraction, retention and reward strategies; advising pension plan sponsors and other institutions on optimal investment strategies; providing strategic and financial advice to insurance and financial services companies; and delivering related technology, outsourcing and data services. Watson Wyatt has 6,000 associates in 30 countries and is located on the Web at http://www.watsonwyatt.com/.
Contact
Ed Emerman, +609-452-5967, eemerman@eaglepr.com
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