The summer is ending and benefits teams are turning their attention to open enrollment season. A lot is at stake for employees when picking a health plan, and it’s no surprise that many feel stressed and uncertain when reviewing their options.

But this Health Savings Account (HSA) Week—August 26-30—HealthEquity is excited to share new research and resources to help benefits professionals drive greater employee confidence and satisfaction with their plan choices during open enrollment and throughout the year.

This new survey of more than 600 working Americans demonstrates how focusing on employee benefits literacy can help people experience less stress, feel more confidence, and experience better results with their health benefits—including HSAs. And that satisfaction often translates into increased satisfaction with their employer.

As you prepare your open enrollment strategies for 2024, be sure to check out these survey results for more insight into how better understanding their benefits options can help your people make choices they feel great about.

Did you know? Open enrollment is a stressful time for employees

Choosing from an array of benefits options for an entire plan year can be a daunting prospect for employees. The HealthEquity survey, conducted in April 2024, reveals that many employees feel stressed and lack confidence about their choices.

More than a quarter (26%) of survey respondents said choosing a health plan causes them to feel stress. These feelings are particularly true for employees under age 35, 29% of whom feel stress, and Hispanic/Latino employees, 31% of whom reported stress while picking a plan.

Other employees reported some ambivalence about their health plan choices. According to the survey, 13% of employees aren’t confident they chose the right health plan for their particular needs.

And while the exact causes of this stress and uncertainty vary, most point to a lack of knowledge or understanding about their choices. One in five say they struggle to understand the differences between their plan options, 19% worry about choosing a plan that meets their healthcare needs, and 18% experience difficulty in trying to calculate benefit value or out-of-pocket costs.

In fact, understanding has a profound impact on how people feel about their choices. Nearly a quarter (24%) of survey respondents who either disagreed they understood their benefits or felt neutral said they were confident about their choice. Among those who strongly agreed they understood their choices, however, 93% felt confident. That means that understanding benefits options made employees roughly four times more likely to feel confident about the plan they elected.

Employees who don’t understand their benefits choose HSAs less often—even when HSAs could help

A high-deductible health plan (HDHP) paired with an HSA is a powerful benefits option for many people. HDHP premiums are, on average, less expensive than other health plan options, while HSAs provide a way to offset the high deductible and save for healthcare costs in the future.¹ Yet despite the advantages and widespread availability of HSA-qualified HDHPs, some employees forgo the choice.²

Again, lack of understanding is the most common reason. More than half (58%) of survey respondents were offered an HDHP, but many employees chose not to sign up out of uncertainty.

Among those who didn’t choose an HDHP, nearly half (46%) said they didn’t understand how it would save them money and over a third (34%) said they had always enrolled in a different type of plan and wanted to stick with what they knew. Another 18% said they just didn’t understand how HDHPs work.

That makes for a lot of employees who could be missing out on a great plan option because they simply don’t understand how it works or how it could help them meet their healthcare needs.

Benefits literacy is the key to greater confidence and less second-guessing during the plan year

These statistics can look daunting for benefits teams. But the remedy is straightforward: promoting better benefits literacy among employees.

When employees understand their benefits, they experience less stress and difficulty while choosing a plan, as well as less second-guessing regarding their decisions during the plan year. Remember, employees who have an excellent understanding of their benefits are four times more confident they chose the right plan when compared with those who have a poor understanding.

Employees who understand their benefits also experience better benefits outcomes. Those who understand their benefits are significantly less likely to take extraordinary measures to manage healthcare costs, such as putting off care.

According to the HealthEquity survey, more than a quarter (28%) of employees who said they have a fair or poor understanding of their benefits also said they’ve second-guessed themselves during the plan year over whether they chose the right plan for their needs. Just 13% of employees who rated their benefits understanding as excellent said the same.

And those with a poor to fair understanding were twice as likely to put off seeking needed care or treatment due to cost than those with an excellent understanding.

Benefits literacy influenced HDHP and HSA consideration as well. Employees who rate their benefits understanding highly were more likely to choose an HDHP paired with an HSA. Nearly 40% of those with an HSA now can’t imagine life without one, and over half (54%) of employees with an excellent understanding of benefits say the same thing.

Employees who understand their benefits feel better about their employer

Better benefits literacy is excellent for employees’ quality of life—it lessens their stress, increases their confidence in their plan selection, and leads to better healthcare outcomes. But it also brings value to their employers.

Employees highly value benefits literacy and the efforts their employers make to improve it. More than half of survey respondents (54%) said their understanding of their health benefits contributed to their overall job satisfaction.

And benefits understanding correlates with longer employment, too. A full 97% of employees who said they’re satisfied with the support they get to understand their benefits also plan to stay with their employer for at least two more years.

Get more resources for your employees during HSA Week

This HSA Week, celebrate by improving your benefits team’s efforts in promoting benefits literacy. This is your chance to help your people boost their health savings and improve their financial peace of mind—just in time for open enrollment.

To ensure your organization fully benefits from HSA Week, we encourage you to share the following content:

• Use this email template to spread the word about HSA Week and its resources with your team. You can copy and paste the text or tailor it to fit your needs.
• Let your team know they can sign up for a free 30-minute webcast to help them hit their HSA contribution goals.
• Explore our open enrollment toolkit with a free library of content and media designed to engage your people during enrollment season and beyond.

And, of course, check out the full details of our latest research!