Rebecca Madsen, Chief Consumer Officer of UnitedHealthcare, reveals what's new for this Open Enrollment season – and how to get the most out of it.
It's Open Enrollment season, that time of year when millions of Americans choose their health care provider. And with more options than ever before, Open Enrollment can be a bit daunting. So we thought it would be a good idea to bring in an expert to help listeners make an informed decision -- Rebecca Madsen of UnitedHealthcare.
SPEAKERS
Ira Apfel, Rebecca Madsen
Ira Apfel00:05
Hello, and welcome to UnitedHealth Group’s Weekly Dose Podcast, where we'll get you up to speed on latest trends, shaping the future of healthcare. And don't forget, the podcast is now available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. So please subscribe so you never miss an episode. Now on to the show.
Ira Apfel00:22
It's Open Enrollment season, that time of year when millions of Americans choose their health care provider 180 million Americans with employer provided coverage need to choose. While more than 67 million Americans on Medicare also have a decision to make. And with more options than ever before, Open Enrollment can be a bit, let's just say daunting. So we thought it would be a good idea to bring in an expert to help you choose and offer advice to help you make a more informed decision. Rebecca Madsen is Chief consumer officer with UnitedHealthcare where she's responsible for analyzing, designing, implementing enhancements to the consumer experience. Rebecca Madsen, welcome to the podcast.
Rebecca Madsen01:05
Thank you for having me today.
Ira Apfel01:08
So big question, what is Open Enrollment? Why does it matter? Who does it affect? And how long does it last?
Rebecca Madsen01:17
So Open Enrollments a time of year when millions of Americans pick their health benefits for themselves and their families for the coming year. At United Health Group, our Open Enrollment period is October 25th. So just kicking off through November 12. And if you are in a Medicare plan, the Annual Enrollment runs from the middle of October to the beginning of December. And it's a great time of year when you actually should take a little bit of time to look at your benefits from the past year and look at your benefits for the upcoming year.
Rebecca Madsen01:49
So for listeners out there who also aren't, you know, on our plan, it's it varies. So they need to figure out what the Open Enrollment dates are when it closes. And that's not something there's a hard and fast date for every plan. Correct? Correct. So for Medicare it is, but if you're in an employer sponsored plan, along with 180 million Americans, you have to look at your specific plan. So usually what employers do is they'll send out a notification that Open Enrollment is coming, they'll give you things such as changes from the plan last year tools to use, but make sure that you pay attention to those dates, because when the Open Enrollment window closes, you have to have a life event or a significant change to be able to make benefit elections for the upcoming year.
Ira Apfel02:37
Got it, and what's new and different about this year's Open Enrollment.
Rebecca Madsen02:43
So I don't know that there's a lot that's new and different every year Open Enrollment goes through a fairly consistent process. But I think if we look at the world around us, and we look at what's happened in the past sort of year or two years, since we've had the pandemic, more people are paying attention to health care. 44% of Americans, for example, say that the COVID 19 pandemic has prompted them to change that plants 13% Want more wellness programs. So we've seen a lot of changes in what's going on in the environment itself that is causing people to pay more attention to their plants. Also, what's changed every year is what's changed in your own life. Have you had a baby? Have you gotten married? Are you sick? Or are you healthier, and looking at your own life and looking at your current benefits to see if they're still meeting your needs and your family's needs. So while the environment has changed, the process hasn't changed that much. But your own life and your own healthcare needs may have changed substantially year over year.
Ira Apfel03:45
Okay, so it sounds like the pandemic has gotten a lot of people to kind of reassess where they are with their health with their health care. Does that mean they're coming back, and they're being picky or choosy or more demanding? Or is it just simply this kind of reflexive thing where they just say I just need to change things up.
Rebecca Madsen04:05
So what we saw historically is about 20% of people spent less than an hour researching their plan options. So often what would happen is people would go they check the box and say Open Enrollment, what I had last year is as good as what I have this coming year. And what we found is health is front and center. So having people spend the time actually looking at their benefits, spending more time than they do shopping for a car or looking for something else that they spend an hour on. And so what we've seen is people are really more aware health is in the news every day. People are more concerned about them their own health, they know people who've had health issues or COVID or adverse outcomes, and they want to pay more attention to the benefits that they have for the coming year. And a couple things are out that we can look at when we're looking at the plans for the coming year, and some tips that may be helpful to the list.
Rebecca Madsen05:00
So first is looking at the costs. So for example, premiums, premiums are one expense that we have, that's the amount that obviously comes out of your paycheck. But also look at co pays and deductibles, make sure that you understand how much is going to be out of your pocket and anticipate your expenses. So look at your coverage that you had last year, how much you spend on medical care, and, and things such as prescriptions. And make sure that you're looking at the deductible, we often see people get surprised when a cost is under the deductible. A second tip is to look at coverage. So make sure that your doctor is in the network. It sounds like an obvious thing. And 77 76% of people research if they're doctors in network, that that means a quarter of people aren't and going out of network often leads as well to a cost surprise and less effective cost of care and quality of care. Also look at your medications will be covered next year. So look at the medications you take, and your family takes compare it to the formulary of the plan that you're going to select and make sure that you're set up to have the best coverage for the coming year.
Ira Apfel06:11
You know, with people becoming more choosy, taking more time to, you know, look and examine and researcher healthcare, I'm wondering, are they coming to, to you and coming to the organization with demands for different offerings? Or is it just really like a like a cost issue, like you somewhat alluded to where they're just saying, you know, be aware of your costs, be aware of what you would be paying out of pocket and you know, keeping, you know, making sure your doctors and network are producing different demands from what they want.
Rebecca Madsen06:46
So I think that really gets down to what your employer selects. If you're in a larger plan, you may have more options. If you're in a smaller plan, you may have fewer options. So I think by the time you get to Open Enrollment, those decisions have been made by your employer. And then it's looking at the different plans you have looking like I said at the premiums looking at the deductible, but also looking for other things such as wellness programs. And a lot of people are focused on wellness, we know 70% of large employers offer wellness programs. We have one at United Health Group, for example called rewards for health, where you can take actions to earn incentives for healthy decisions, things such as coaching and walking, and other types of interventions and actions that you can take in UnitedHealth Group for an employee and a spouse for example, you can earn $1,600. In incentives, it's $1,750 for if you're insuring your entire family, and we know that of people who actually engaged in a wellness program 71% said it improved their health. So almost three quarters of people that engage in wellness program show value from it. Another great thing people want to look for is other sort of what benefits around wellness in terms of sort of more bells and whistles, types things. And we have a relationship that we just signed with peloton that is pretty exciting, where you can get the digital app for free. If you're a United Health Group employee, you can save $13 off the monthly all access subscription. That's where you get all the classes if you're on the bike, and discount on bikes and the treadmills. So what you'll see is a lot of employees are saying what is it beyond just my medical benefits that you can offer to me as coverage. And wellness is an area that people are really focused on.
Ira Apfel08:37
And are the focusing as well on benefits for their kids benefits for their spouses is it's kind of more like you're seeing what's in it for me kind of a kind of a deal.
Rebecca Madsen08:54
Well, I think that's what people always think when you have a benefit through your employment, I think there's an expectation that your entire family will be covered. Also, one of the trends that we've seen is around specialty benefits. And we have wonderful specialty benefit offerings around dental, vision, hearing, disability and accident protection. So we have lots of other opportunities to insure the entire family. And often specialty benefits are not expensive, but they're a great way to make sure that you get the full care. So for example, if you have a child getting braces having a dental benefit is very helpful or if you have somebody wearing glasses, but we also know that there's a connection between oral health and cardiovascular health and eye exams can identify things such as diabetes. So when you get the specialty benefit in insures your entire family and really looks more broadly at the whole individual. Another thing that people you keep asking sort of around the question of what people are expecting that's different. And one of the trends that we saw during the pandemic that really, He has accelerated is the idea of virtual care, telehealth and 90% of people now say that they will consider user using virtual care or they have used virtual care. And this is up significantly, from 35%, before the pandemic, so almost triple the amount of people. And we know when people couldn't get into the doctor's office, and it was essential care only, they really started to interact with the providers virtually. And it's often less expensive. It's more accessible. It's particularly good if you're in a remote location, or you're outside of standard hours. And it provides access to care in a way that people now are more comfortable using and accessing the care often for less expense than they would have if they weren't at the doctor's office.
Ira Apfel10:47
You've offered some great tips on how to get the most out of Open Enrollment. I'm wondering what's the biggest mistake consumers make when it comes to Open Enrollment?
Rebecca Madsen10:57
So this is an easy one for me to answer. People don't spend the time. And with everyone slides being busy, people just go forward. And it's you know, we know that only 9% of people understand the four basic terms of health care, copay, coinsurance deductible, and out of pocket max of the US population. And so there still is an issue with health literacy. And even those of us who work at United Health Group, as much as we do this all day, every day, it can be a little bit confusing. And so people often will say, Okay, let me just go with what I have before or they don't pay attention to things such as the wellness benefits and the incentives available to them. And things such as mobile apps and online resources and telehealth, and really taking the time to familiarize yourself what is available in your plan? And how do you make sure that you set yourself up for success, and you don't wait for an adverse event or an acute event to happen to really take the time to understand your plan. So I always say to people put two hours on your calendar during Open Enrollment just like you would any other meeting, spend the time reading the materials that you have looking at the cost comparison tool, looking at what you spent last year and give it the same time and attention you would with other things in your life.
Ira Apfel12:16
This has always been a big personal question for me. I know we were before we got on the podcast, you said Ask Me Anything you like. This is a personal one for me. What happens if I missed a deadline to Open Enrollment?
Rebecca Madsen12:28
So: don't! If you missed the deadline for Open Enrollment. Usually when you select your benefits, they'll send you a confirmation document so you can confirm your benefits. But in general, if you've missed Open Enrollment, and you're going into the next calendar year, and you haven't selected your benefits, at some employers, the benefits may roll over. So it may just click what you selected last year for your medical plan. For example, a lot of times your HSA benefit, you have to reselect that year every year. So it depends really on who your employer is and what the plan is that you have. But if you've completely missed Open Enrollment and your elections don't carry over year to year, then you have to have a life event to be able to enroll in the plan, having a child getting married, getting divorced, changing your employer, etc. So pay attention make sure that you spend the time during the period that Open Enrollment is available. So again for United Healthcare employees, that is October 25 to November 12 and select your plan during that time.
Ira Apfel13:38
Rebecca Madsen thanks so much for being on the podcast today.
Rebecca Madsen13:42
Yeah, happy to be here and good luck to everybody going through the process. That's it
Ira Apfel13:46
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