Many Workers Struggle with Basic Health Benefit Terms, Watson Wyatt Survey Finds

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Many U.S. employees don't understand how their health care coverage works and admit their familiarity with the most basic health care vocabulary needs improvement, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.
In its survey of nearly 2,100 covered workers, Watson Wyatt found that a top challenge for 43 percent of workers is understanding what their health care plan covers. Moreover, less than half are comfortable explaining common health benefit terms, such as co-pay or deductible, to a friend or coworker. And fewer than one in four feels comfortable describing health savings accounts, coinsurance and terms such as formulary and center of excellence.

      Benefit Term                     Percentage of workers
                                   comfortable describing term
  Co-pay                                      49%
  Deductible                                  46
  Flexible spending account                   36
  Out-of-pocket maximum                       35
  Lifetime maximum                            27
  Health savings account                      24
  Coinsurance                                 22
  Formulary                                   16
  Center of excellence                         8

"It's hard for employers to ask employees to take more responsibility for their health care when they are not speaking the same language," said Kathryn Yates, global director of communication consulting at Watson Wyatt. "Helping employees improve their health care literacy and learn the terminology can make or break a company's health care efforts overall."
The survey also found that most employees like to receive communication about their health care benefits in print. When asked to rate several delivery channels, about seven in ten said they prefer print materials mailed to their home or provided at work. Slightly fewer (64 percent) prefer receiving information via the Internet. Less than half (46 percent) favor face-to-face meetings. Interestingly, only a slight a majority (52 percent) of employees read all the materials provided by their employer during the annual health care enrollment process. Three percent do not read any of the materials, and the remainder reads either only what is needed to enroll or only information about changes to the plans.
"It's essential to communicate with employees in ways that meet their needs and preferences," Yates said. "By using a mix of channels and formats, employers can effectively increase understanding and empower employees to become smarter health care consumers."
Watson Wyatt (NYSE:WW)
Web site: http://www.watsonwyatt.com/

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