- Key Insight: Learn how budgeted employer plans are filling part-time healthcare coverage gaps.
- What's at Stake: Recruitment and retention suffer if affordable coverage isn't accessible to hourly staff.
- Supporting Data: 80% of workers worry about paying bills on time.
- Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review
Hourly workers are facing increasing financial pressures as wages for many have not kept pace with rising living costs in recent years. Often
In fact, according to a recent survey by workforce payment platform Branch, 80% of workers are now worried about their ability to pay bills on time, including utilities, rent and medical expenses. Additionally, 29% of hourly employees delayed seeking healthcare for themselves in the last year due to cost restrictions, according to Mercer.
To provide hourly workers with more affordable healthcare access, UnitedHealthcare's Flexwork program is a budget‑friendly health plan designed to give workers basic health coverage and care access without the complexity and high cost of standard insurance.
Started in 2021, Flexwork now has over 50,000 members nationwide.
"We entered the market because we had a lot of UnitedHealthcare accounts that were looking for something for the part-time population," says Carolynn Morizzo, the company's senior vice president for diversified growth markets. "We were addressing a need from our existing customers."
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Enrollment options for Flexwork members include multiple coverage tiers such as individual, employee and spouse and family plans, and members are also eligible for dental and vision coverage.
Members have access to UnitedHealthcare's nationwide Choice provider network and aren't required to pay upfront deductibles or backend coinsurance costs. Other perks include $0 copay for
Offering these benefits to hourly workers helps make companies more competitive in recruitment and boosts retention rates, says Morizzo, citing a recent study conducted by UnitedHealthcare.
"One of the reasons we joined this space in the first place is because there really aren't a lot of opportunities out there for the part-time population or for those who can't afford deductibles," Morizzo says.
A large part of the workforce
The majority of hourly employees work in the retail, hospitality, healthcare support and construction industries. Recent labor trends show a decline in average hours worked among these employees, causing uncertainty and reducing opportunities for a stable income and
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A Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis found that average weekly hours worked in the private nonfarm sector declined over several recent quarters, falling about 0.8% over a roughly two-year span from late 2021 through 2023.
Morizzo says that UnitedHealthcare has a strong relationship with the National Restaurant Association, and that participation in Flexwork plans among workers in that industry tends to be high.
"We've also seen a great deal of interest in staffing industries," she says.
Education barrier
In sectors
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"In some instances, we've got 300-400% turnover with our customers. By the time they understand the benefits, they're gone," Morizzo says. "So it's really incumbent upon the employer to work with us and come up with a strategy on communication."
HR leaders who work with UnitedHealthcare to come up with a marketing strategy generally have higher utilization rates for
"We'd like to see more (usage) of virtual care," Morizzo says. "That was one of the benefits that we went out of the gate with initially when we started this in 2021, and it's still an uphill battle just trying to get the word out that that's a $0 copay benefit."
