Since I doubt I’m in any danger of losing any friends at
Surveying consumers about what they consider life’s perfect matches, the insurer uses a silly tactic to get at an important point — if you can stay with the results long enough to read it.
According to Wellpoint’s findings, “milk and cookies, peanut butter and jelly, and ham and cheese are matches made in heaven for most.” Where’s the health insurance connection? All these results do is make me want a snack.
Stick with me, though; it gets better.
Going further, the insurer finds that consumers think “other pairings, however, are less desirable. For example, the meeting of spouses and former romances was a definite no-no for many, followed by an almost equally strong preference to keep chocolate and wasabi separate. Alcohol and high school reunions were another eyebrow raiser. “
This is where I started to get annoyed. Chocolate doesn’t go with wasabi — you don’t say! What on earth does this have to do with health coverage? Against my better instincts, I kept reading, and (finally!) got to the news you’ll want to know about consumers “perfect match” preferences.
When it comes to matching services in their lives, Americans expressed a strong preference for packaging their health plans, with 82% preferring to receive all of their health insurance (medical, dental, vision, life/disability) from the same provider.
Most respondents felt that merging these services might lead to better prices, help them save time and simply keep them from getting “stressed out.”
Now, that’s valuable news for benefits professionals. Lead with that next time, Wellpoint.
As you make your final procurement decisions for the fall’s open enrollment season, might you consider streamlining medical, dental, vision and life/disability to one carrier?
Health experts have long championed integrated benefits delivery; perhaps such integration is more easily achieved if all benefits are provided by the same company.
Further, as the Wellpoint respondents suggest, such streamlined offerings may help employees become less overwhelmed, and perhaps more engaged, in their benefits selection and management than they have been previously.
We’ve all read the dismaying statistics that consumers spend more time deciding which flatscreen TV or smartphone to buy than making benefits decisions. Could putting all benefits under one umbrella — even with different plan options — move the needle in a better direction? Maybe.
I don’t have a dog in this hunt either way (unlike Wellpoint, which coincidentally offers all the benefits mentioned above); I’m just trying to give you food for thought — perfectly matched food, of course. Like PB&J.
