Employers’ benefits confusion trickles down to employees

You’ve heard it before: for all the time benefits advisors spend learning about health care and employee benefits, employers and their HR teams spending just a fraction of the time going over plan options. And while they might be the ones ultimately deciding what to offer to their employees each year, that doesn’t mean they understand it any better than their employees.

According to a recent survey from Bend Financial, 56% of employers (yes, employers) did not realize that an employee needs an HDHP to be eligible for an HSA, and half did not realize that an HSA could be portable after an employee left.

Related: Employees don’t “get” HSAs — what’s an employer to do?

“Unfortunately, many employers are still somewhat in the dark when it comes to all the advantages of offering an HDHP option with an employer-sponsored HSA program,” said Bend Financial Cofounder and CEO Tom Torre.

And if they aren’t sure themselves how these benefits work, how can they craft messaging and communications to help their employees understand it?

“This confusion and lack of clarity trickles down to employees, and can result in less-than-optimized choices and missed opportunities to save money and achieve better overall financial wellness—both for employees and employers,” Torre added.

Check out the infographic below to delve further into the employers’ health benefits understanding.

Read more: 

• HSAs in the USA: 5 states with the most people covered, 5 with the least
• Projected health-care expenses during retirement reach record high
• Helping clients harness the HSA investing surge