This year, employees were more active in their benefits decision than in years past. A recent study by human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates found 45 percent of employees actively chose their benefits for 2010 instead of simply defaulting to the same coverage they had previously or taking no coverage at all.
This was up from the 2009 open-enrollment period for voluntary benefits, where 39 percent actively enrolled.
Despite the fact that more employees were considering their options, most still chose to enroll in similar health plans in 2010 to what they have in the past, according to Hewitt's analysis of 6 million U.S. workers for whom it managed benefits enrollment in the fall of 2009.
Although the options at individual companies in the benefits market are limited, this still got me thinking…when clients are more informed, what kind of decisions do they make?
ASJ recently covered the topic of consumers and the overwhelming access they have to information about the insurance industry. When it's easy to do a Google search for "life insurance" and come up with a ton of information, plan options, and the like, many clients are meeting with agents already knowing the plan they want. And it's up to the agent to help them understand why that plan may or may not be the best option for them.
