Who actually owns the health benefit experience?
Below is an excerpt from an article by Empara CXO Ben Callaghan in Employee Benefit News.
While user-friendly interfaces have become table stakes across most industries, much of today's consumer-facing healthcare technology lags behind. These barriers contribute to low engagement and underutilization of employee health benefits, ultimately driving up costs and negatively affecting the user experience.
Currently, no single entity in this ecosystem takes full accountability for user experience. Responsibility is dispersed among employers, member groups, brokers, third-party administrators and networks, leading to a lack of ownership. This fragmentation contributes to ineffective technology solutions and prevents healthcare benefits from reaching a consumer-grade level, particularly in self-funded plans when disparate components often fail to integrate seamlessly.
Self-funded plan designs often assume that members will act as informed healthcare consumers, researching and considering costs in their decisions. However, the complexity of healthcare makes it nearly impossible for the average consumer to navigate effectively. Expecting members to fully understand their benefits – and make informed spending decisions – without proper tools and technology is unrealistic.