Every open enrollment, Healia goes by land, by sea and by air.
By land, the Healia team is at benefits fairs, raffling off LEGO sets to anyone who completes the Decision Support Tool (DST) and handing out buckeyes, an Ohio delicacy that gives Reese's Peanut Butter Cups a run for their money. By sea, HR teams keep communications flowing with timely emails. By air, we're running digital ads aimed at our clients' employees. Add open enrollment webinars, Ask an AM sessions, break room posters, short videos, one-pagers and benefit inserts to the mix, and we've got quite the operation.
And that's just for one benefit. I'm constantly in awe of HR teams, who somehow manage to conduct an entire symphony of benefits communications amid the chaos of open enrollment. We get to focus on one instrument (first chair in the spousal HRA section, if I may say so myself). They're the ones making sure the whole thing doesn't turn into a middle school band concert.
We get to be singularly focused on helping employees understand their household's healthcare options. HR teams are juggling an entire benefits program, and our job is to make at least one piece of that puzzle easier. We've learned a lot about reaching employees over the years, and we're always looking for ways to make those efforts more effective.
One of the biggest opportunities lies beyond the employee inbox or company intranet, with someone who has just as much at stake in the decision.
Their spouse.
Spouses bring two important things to the table: their own healthcare needs and, often, a health plan through their own employer.
Our open enrollment playbook starts with the employee, and for good reason. They're the ones making the benefits election. But the numbers show just how valuable it is to bring spouses into the conversation. At one transportation company, employees who didn't add a spouse's plan to the DST were recommended the company's own PPO 100% of the time. Without the spouse's plan, the tool had fewer options to compare. Across our case studies, when employees did add their spouse's plan, that plan paired with the Total Care Option (TCO) was the optimal choice in 50% to 76% of recommendations.
Reaching employees is one thing. Reaching their spouses, who aren't on the usual open enrollment distribution lists, takes a little more creativity. Here's how we're helping HR teams bring them into the conversation.
The mailbox makes a comeback
Open enrollment decisions often happen around the kitchen table, so why not make sure something from Healia makes it there, too? A postcard sent to the household around open enrollment gives spouses a chance to learn about the benefit and track down their health plan documents before it's time to compare options.
It's a simple way to extend the conversation beyond the workplace, without adding another task to HR's already crowded open enrollment calendar.
Make every email count
HR teams have plenty to communicate during open enrollment, and every message is competing for attention. We want to make it as easy as possible for employees to share information about Healia with their spouses. An email might get forwarded or read aloud at home, where the person on the receiving end may have missed the webinar and never heard the phrase "spousal HRA."
That's why we focus on making the message simple enough to stand on its own. Three things matter most:
- A clear explanation of what the benefit covers, including deductibles, coinsurance and copays on the spouse's plan (that means no insurance jargon)
- A reminder that it costs nothing to enroll
- A link to the DST, where employees can compare their household's options
The easier the message is to understand and share, the less explaining HR has to do, and the easier it is to bring the spouse into the decision.
An invitation for two
This one is new. In the DST, employees can now click "Ask my spouse to do it" and enter their spouse's email address. The spouse gets a link to log in, upload their plan and see the same household comparison as the employee. And the employee doesn't have to wait. They can select a similar sample plan to get an estimate immediately.
This makes it easier for spouses to participate directly, without employees having to track down the details of a health plan they may know very little about. It also gives HR teams one less thing to explain.
For HR, that means adding one line to an open enrollment message: "If your spouse has the plan documents, send them the invite."
And let's face it, nothing makes you look better at home than showing up with a way to potentially save your family some serious money.
The work is never done
I get to wake up every morning and smell the Healia. I spend my days thinking about how to make one benefit easier to understand, easier to use and more valuable for employees and their families. HR teams don't have that luxury. They're juggling health insurance, retirement plans, leave policies, wellness programs and everything in between, often alongside a dozen other responsibilities.
My hat's off to them. Convincing people to give their health benefits the same attention they give their fantasy football lineup is no small feat. Especially when you're asking them to think about something as likely to spark joy as a deductible. And when the decision involves two people, you have to earn that attention twice.
That's why the work is never done. Every intentional email draft, more intuitive tool, and simpler way to bring spouses into the conversation means one less hurdle for HR teams and one more opportunity for families to make informed decisions.
We get to focus on Healia. Our job is to make sure HR doesn't have to.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the spouse matter in a spousal HRA decision?
The spouse's health plan is an important part of the comparison. Without it, the Decision Support Tool can only evaluate the employee's own company plans. At one national distributor, when employees included their spouse's plan, that plan paired with the TCO was the most cost-effective option in 76% of recommendations.
How can HR reach an employee's spouse during open enrollment?
Direct mail, shareable emails and tools that let spouses participate directly can all help extend the conversation beyond the workplace. Healia supports these efforts with open enrollment communications and a Decision Support Tool that allows employees to invite their spouses to contribute their own plan information.
How does Healia support HR teams during open enrollment?
Healia helps employers educate employees about their household coverage options through benefits fairs, educational webinars, digital campaigns, printed materials and the Decision Support Tool. These resources are designed to make the benefit easier to understand and help employees and spouses make informed decisions.
Want to make open enrollment easier for your HR team and more valuable for employees and their families?