America's Benefit Specialist April 2023

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they are relying even more heavily on their brokers for help identifying meaningful and cost-effective products and services. In fact, 83% of brokers reported that clients rely on them to contain healthcare costs and 60% of brokers report ed that employers rely on them to identify products and programs to meet evolving employee needs. Sixty-four percent of brokers saw an increase in clients adding voluntary benefits, up from 58% in 2021. The top three most added benefits remained the same from 2022: accident insurance (71%), critical illness (68%) and hospital indemnity (39%). Employees and employers seem to be increasingly focused on income protection: Respondents reported that interest in disability almost doubled (from 18% to 34%) and life insurance tripled (30% combined for group and whole life, up from 10%), while pet insurance (19%, down from 28%), ID theft (13%, down from 20%) and legal protection (11%, down from 20%) all saw declines as compared to the 2022 survey. Beyond creating comprehensive and attractive benefits packages, employers are tapping brokers to communicate benefits information to employees. Ninety-three percent of brokers reported seeing moderate to high demand for help with benefits communications materials, and 66% agreed that offering communication services brings a lot of value to their business. To accommodate today’s increasingly hybrid workforce, brokers are offering support both in-person (75%, up from 54% in 2022) and virtually (65%, up from 56% in 2022). Seventy-seven percent of brokers are also providing materials to help educate employees about their benefits options year-round (up from 59% last year). Employers rely on their benefits administration partner to help assure compliance, contain costs and personalize the employee experience. Finding the right fit appears to be problematic: Fifty-six percent of brokers said they recom mend benefits administration partners to clients annually (compared to 48% in 2022) with the biggest challenges to im plementing the proposed timeline (70%), complex file feeds (58%), and the availability of on-going support (65%) and ad ministrative training (59%—almost double the response from the 2022 survey). When asked about the top three features clients want in their benefits administration system, brokers said ease of use (75%), API/third-party integration (47%) and single sign-on (41%). Optavise surveyed more than 100 U.S. based health in surance brokers, representing the top 20 largest insurance brokerage firms on three main areas: their current service offerings, which services deliver the most business value, and how their models are likely to evolve to help them compete in the coming year. Participating brokers work for a mix of midsize to large clients: Seventy-eight percent said they have 20 or fewer clients with more than 500 employees, while 14% said they have more than 20 clients with 1,000+ employees. The survey was conducted from November 2022 to January 2023. For more information, visit www.Optavise.com.

ENROLLMENT IN HDHPS AND CONSUMER-DRIVEN HEALTH PLANS REMAINS STEADY Enrollment in consumer-directed health plans, health plans paired with Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimburse ment Arrangements, was little changed after reaching a record high in 2020. According to findings of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)/Greenwald Research Con sumer Engagement in Health Care Survey, 19% of respon dents reported being enrolled in such a plan last year. Enrollment in health plans with high deductibles that were not eligible to be paired with an account was 12% in 2022, according to the survey. However, while nearly six in 10 HDHP enrollees were ex tremely or very familiar with consumer-directed healthcare, only 34 percent of traditional plan enrollees said they were familiar with such coverage. Other findings from the survey: • Younger people were more likely to enroll in traditional health coverage, while older people were more likely to be in an HDHP or CDHP. • Men were more likely to enroll in an HDHP or CDHP, while women were more likely to be in traditional health cover age. • People in lower-income households were more likely to enroll in traditional health coverage, while those in high er-income households were more likely to be in an HDHP or CDHP. • College-educated individuals were more likely than indi viduals without a college degree to be in an HDHP or CDHP. • Married individuals were more likely than individuals who were never married to be in an HDHP or CDHP. The survey found that enrollees in traditional health plans value low out-of-pocket costs, while HDHP enrollees value lower premiums. More information about the EBRI/Green wald Research Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey can be found at www.ebri.org. SURVEY: EMPLOYERS TURN TO VOLUNTARY BENEFITS, COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FROM BROKERS TO REIN IN HEALTHCARE COSTS Optavise has released a new report, The 2023 Benefits Bro ker: Rising Healthcare Costs and Increasing Competition Set the Tone. The seventh annual report found brokers are add ing innovative products and services due to various market forces, which include rising healthcare costs (81%), compe tition from other brokers (50%) and increased demand for price transparency (48%). As employers refocus on recruiting and retention while juggling inflationary pressures and rising healthcare costs,

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