New research from Aflac underscores a big opportunity for advisers to help ease employees’ confusion during open enrollment.
Conducted in 2011 by Harris Interactive on behalf of Aflac, the survey of 2,220 U.S. adults finds that 76% of American workers who make decisions about benefits coverage during open enrollment admit to making mistakes about their benefits decisions. Moreover, 74% of acknowledged say that they only sometimes or rarely or never understand everything that is covered by their medical insurance coverage. One consequence of workers not fully understanding their health care insurance policies is fear of unexpected medical expenses. In fact, 83% of respondents indicating that they are at least somewhat concerned about the possibility of an unexpected medical expense, with 30% saying they are extremely/very concerned, considering their current financial situation.
