August 27, 2012 
Human Resources professionals, consultants, and healthcare companies spend a lot of time trying to figure out what benefits packages to offer, how to frame those out to employees, and then how to get them to choose the right package for them. The key question is whether this works and whether employees care?
A recent survey from the Aflac WorkForces Report would indicate that the answer is no.
- 56% estimate that they waste up to $750 a year because they make mistakes with their health benefits.
- Only 16% are confident about their decisions on healthcare benefits.
- 52% say that their company doesn’t communicate with them at all about open-enrollment.
- 89% say they simply elect the same options every year.
- 47% say they rarely or never exceed their deductibles.
- 16% contribute the right amounts to their flexible spending accounts.
All of this while benefits are getting more complicated and consumers are being expected to pay more of the bill.
Enabling Healthy Decisions 
I was part of the 89%! I consider myself knowledgeable about health care but I’ll have to admit, it took me five years to finally realize that switching to an H.S.A. from a conventional plan was more cost effective!