Open Enrollment: Avoiding Errors When Choosing Benefits

Summary

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WSJ Your Money Briefing

Episode: Open Enrollment: Avoiding Errors When Choosing Benefits

Date: October 25, 2019
Host: JR Whalen, The Wall Street Journal
Guest: Mona Zilke, Senior Vice President, Operations and Claims, Voya Employee Benefits

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Overview

This episode focuses on the annual open enrollment period, a crucial time when employees or insurance purchasers must select their benefits for the coming year. Host JR Whalen and guest Mona Zilke discuss strategies to avoid common pitfalls, the importance of reviewing both past and anticipated needs, and how to navigate the sometimes overwhelming range of benefit options. Zilke provides actionable tips for making informed, financially sound choices and offers insight into evolving benefit options.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Critical Importance of Deadlines

• Open enrollment is time-sensitive.
  • Mona Zilke emphasizes the need to “find the deadline to sign up for the benefits and circle it with a big thick red pen” ([02:45]).

2. Leveraging Past Experience

• Review last year’s choices:
  • Understand what benefits were selected and actually used; evaluate missed opportunities for coverage.
  • “The past is important to understand the benefits that you've selected the prior year...Did you use it? Did you not use it? Were there situations when you could have benefited from a benefit that your employer provided that could have helped you?” — Mona Zilke ([03:13])

3. Anticipating Future Needs

• Plan ahead for life changes:
  • Look at expected health events (e.g., surgeries, having a baby) and adjust coverage accordingly.
  • “The future is probably even more important...Are you possibly thinking of having a baby or are having knee surgery? ... It's really about saving time, saving money, and saving stress as you think about your benefit options.” — Mona Zilke ([03:51])

4. Understanding High Deductible Health Plans and HSAs

• High deductible plans:
  • Becoming more popular, but require significant out-of-pocket spending.
• HSA advantages:
  • Helpful for current and future medical costs; portable, with investment options.
  • “HSAs can also be used in thinking about your retirement and future medical costs... They're normally portable and they have investment options. So it's a great option when paired with a high deductible health plan.” — Mona Zilke ([04:24])

5. Don’t Get Overwhelmed — Be Selective

• It’s normal to feel overloaded:
  • The average consumer spends less time selecting benefits than choosing a Netflix show ([05:21]).
  • “Selecting two supplemental health benefits can really help and make a difference in your financial wellness now and in the future.” — Mona Zilke ([05:21])

6. Mistake Recovery — Making Corrections

• Adjustments possible before deadline:
  • If a mistake is realized, changes can often be made during the enrollment window.
  • “If you're not waiting until the very last minute, you have those few weeks that the benefit selections are open to go back and make changes.” — Mona Zilke ([06:12])

7. Using Employer Resources

• Online tools and calculators:
  • Employers often provide resources to clarify options and terminology, including plan comparison calculators.
  • “Your employer should have an online forum where you can go and research... and a lot of times they'll actually have a calculator online to help you choose what plans are best for you.” — Mona Zilke ([06:39])

8. Supplemental Benefits: Expanded Offerings

• Beyond basic health and dental:
  • Disability (replaces part of income), accident insurance (covers living expenses), hospital indemnity, and critical illness policies (heart attack, stroke, cancer).
  • “We know that one in three hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts are from unexpected medical costs, and these supplemental benefits can help protect consumers from having those withdrawals.” — Mona Zilke ([07:15])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The average consumer spends 17 minutes doing their benefit elections, where they spend 18 minutes choosing a show to watch on Netflix.” — Mona Zilke ([05:21])
• “Just selecting two supplemental health benefits can really help and make a difference in your financial wellness now and in the future.” — Mona Zilke ([05:21])
• “Your health should be ranking higher than your entertainment selections on Netflix.” — JR Whalen ([06:00])
• “We know that one in three hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts are from unexpected medical costs.” — Mona Zilke ([07:15])

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Key Timestamps

• [02:12] — Start of open enrollment discussion; critical importance of deadlines.
• [03:07] — Learning from the past year’s benefit decisions.
• [03:47] — Importance of anticipating future needs.
• [04:17] — Spotlight on high deductible plans and HSA strategy.
• [05:21] — Addressing the feeling of overwhelm with benefit choices.
• [06:07] — What to do if you make a mistake enrolling.
• [06:39] — Leveraging employer-provided online tools for decision-making.
• [07:08] — Overview of supplemental benefits and their protective value.

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Summary Flow

This episode demystifies the open enrollment process, reminding listeners of the importance of deadlines and the value of thoughtful, forward-looking decision-making. Mona Zilke advocates for reviewing past benefits, considering life events in the year ahead, and not choosing every option just because it is available. High deductible plans paired with HSAs are discussed as a valued, flexible option. She offers reassurance that most benefit selections can be changed during the open period, and encourages the use of employer resources to reduce confusion. Finally, listeners are urged to pay attention to supplemental coverages, which can provide crucial financial protection against unpredictable medical expenses.

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For anyone facing open enrollment, this episode’s practical advice and memorable comparisons make it both actionable and relatable—highlighting that picking health benefits should definitely take priority over picking your next Netflix binge.

Transcript

[A]

Deal replaces fragmented payroll vendors with one global system. No third parties Hire, manage and Pay teams in 150 countries. Operate like a local everywhere. Visit d e l.com WSJ. Here's your money briefing. I'm Annemarie Fertoldi at the Wall Street Journal in New York. Signing up for health care benefits through open enrollment can be overwhelming. The Wall Street Journal's JR Whalen talks with Boya's Mona Zilke about the careful research employees and insurance purchasers should do, so they select appropriate levels of coverage without making errors. First, some money and market stories you should know. Home improvement retailers have been a bright spot during an otherwise underwhelming stretch for retail stocks. But a popular predictor of remodeling spending suggests tougher times ahead. Renovation and maintenance spending are forecast to decline over the next year for the first time in a decade, according to Harvard's leading indicator of remodeling activity. That could be a threat to stocks like Home Depot and Sherwin Williams, which have shot to record highs this week following years of 5% to 7% growth in spending since last decade's housing crash, Harvard's model has been predicting slower growth for the past year or so. Next year, they're pacing for an outright decline for the first time since 2010. And the financial decisions we make every day can impact our credit scores. Those ratings are what lenders look at to decide whether to approve credit cards, auto loans and mortgages, and to determine how much those loans will cost. If you want to test out what would happen to your credit score if you miss a credit card payment or pay off on your car loan, we've got a new tool for you. It's the Wall Street Journal's credit score game. Of course, making financial decisions isn't a game, but it's good to test which moves can hurt and which can help before they impact your credit score for real, go to WSJ.com to play. And good luck. Coming up, it's open enrollment season. The Wall Street Journal's JR Whalen talks with Boya's Mona Zilke about how to choose coverage.

[B]

It's that time of the year again when employees or anyone in an insurance exchange or insurance marketplace signs up for next year's benefits in open enrollment. But a maze of options can be overwhelming, and it invites mistakes. Let's check in with Voya Employee Benefits, Operations and Claims Senior Vice President Mona Zilke to discuss the best ways to approach open enrollment and avoid errors. So, Mona, I guess the first and Foremost rule here is find the deadline to sign up for the benefits and circle it with a big thick red pen on your calendar.

[C]

I would definitely agree with that. JR the benefits time, you know, it's, it's only normally open for a few weeks out of the year. So it's very important for consumers to understand when that deadline is so that they can spend time before that deadline occurs doing research to understand what benefits they should select for the upcoming year.

[B]

So what can people signing up for or adjusting their benefits learn from the past? Why is the past important here?

[C]

The past is important to understand the benefits that you've selected the prior year and understanding what did you use and what did you not use? Or were there situations when you could have benefited from a benefit that your employer provided that could have helped you? So a situation could be your employer provided an accident benefit last year, you didn't sign up for it, and you had an accident where that benefit could have afforded you coverage and a payment in order to help with your medical expenses.

[B]

And it's not just the past that's important. The future plays a big role in benefit selections.

[C]

Also, the future is probably even more important. And it's really about taking the time to understand what does your next year look like? Are you possibly thinking of having a baby or are having knee surgery? And understanding how the different benefits can help protect you as you move forward in the year. It's really about saving time, saving money, and saving stress as you think about your benefit options.

[B]

And a little bit of research can go a long way, especially if, let's say, somebody signs up for a plan that has a high deductible.

[C]

That is correct. High deductible health plans are becoming more and more popular with employers. And when you think about those high deductible health plans, you're going to have a significant amount of money that will be out of pocket. And one thing to think about as you think about the high deductible plan health plans is an hsa. And so an HSA can really help you in paying for medical bills that are happening today. But what's More important is HSAs can also be used in thinking about your retirement and future medical costs and medical costs after you retire. They're normally portable and they have investment options. So it's a great option when paired with a high deductible health plan that's

[B]

a health savings account. And it's becoming more popular in terms of being offered by employers.

[C]

Yes, that's correct.

[B]

You know, for a lot of People, the long list of choices can be overwhelming. And people choosing benefits should not feel compelled to choose every option offered to them.

[C]

You know, one statistics that we talk about a lot is it's very overwhelming for people when they go through an open enrollment period and the Average consumer spends 17 minutes doing their benefit elections, where they spend 18 minutes choosing a show to watch on Netflix. So it's really important to think about the past and what benefits you've had in the prior year, but then also thinking about the benefits for the future year. Just selecting two supplemental health benefits can really help and make a difference in your financial wellness now and in the future.

[B]

I guess your health should be ranking higher than your entertainment selections on Netflix.

[C]

That is for sure. That is for sure.

[B]

Now, Mona, what happens if you make a mistake when selecting the benefits and you realize it after hitting the send button?

[C]

Normally, if you're not waiting until the very last minute, you have those few weeks that the benefit selections are open to go back and make changes. And so it's important to think about research and speaking with your family before the benefit election closes on that last day.

[B]

And a lot of times an employer offers a pretty robust online resource that, among other things, can help explain confusing terminology.

[C]

Your employer should have an online forum where you can go and research all of the products that they're offering. And a lot of times they'll actually have a calculator online to help you choose what plans are best for you. And that happens a lot on the medical side, when there's options between a regular health plan and a high deductible health plan. And then that also then sets you up to know if an HSA will be helpful for you. And that's the health Savings account.

[B]

Now, more and more companies are offering supplemental benefits in addition to medical and dental. What sort of benefits are now being offered to employees?

[C]

They're products such as disability, which replaces a portion of your paycheck. When you can't work because of sickness or injury, there's an accident product that covers living expenses such as utilities, even dog walking, and of course, out of pocket health care. Then also hospital indemnity. If you're having a hospital and stay, a lot of women that are getting ready to have a baby would select this benefit to help with that. And then lastly, just critical illness. This will cover medical bills for things like heart attack, stroke, and cancer. We know that one in three hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts are from unexpected medical costs. And these supplemental benefits can help protect consumers from having those withdrawals.

[B]

All right. That's good advice from Voya's Mona Zilke joining us on the line. Mona, thanks for coming on the show.

[C]

Thank you so much.

[A]

And that's your money briefing. I'm Annmarie Fertoldi in New York for the Wall Street Journal. Still running global payroll like a relay race. Deal replaces fragmented payroll vendors with one global system. No third parties. Hire, manage and pay teams in 150 plus countries with in house local experts and white glove delivery. And deal plugs into what you already workday, SAP, Netsuite operate like a local everywhere. Visit d e-l.com WSJ that's d e e l.com WSJ.