While supplemental health insurance products represent the fastest-growing segment of voluntary benefits, enrollment is increasing in other areas, as well.
Voluntary benefits: employers have traditionally offered them, but employees' enrollment and utilization have been lackluster at best. But like many other things, voluntary benefits have been upended by the pandemic. A recent report from Aon finds a 41% increase in the availability of voluntary benefits from employers between 2021 and 2022.
The growth, according to Aon, is driven both by employers' desire to recruit and retain talent, as well as employees' renewed interest in supplemental health insurance products.
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"During the last two years, it seems every employee knows someone who was hospitalized or fell gravely ill from COVID-19," said Dani McCauley, U.S. customer experience leader for consumer benefit solutions at Aon. "As a result, there is an increased awareness of risks around hospitalization and critical illness, and along with the growth of high deductible health plans, employees are keen to hedge against this potential cost burden."
While supplemental health insurance products represent the fastest-growing segment of voluntary benefits, enrollment is increasing in other areas, as well.
"Employers during the last two open enrollment cycles were focused on using voluntary benefits to improve total rewards strategies and bolstering workforce resilience in order to retain talent," said Greg Morano, U.S. practice leader for consumer benefit solutions at Aon.
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Emily Payne
Emily Payne is director, content analytics for ALM's Business & Finance Markets and former managing editor for BenefitsPRO. A Wisconsin native, she has spent the past decade writing and editing for various athletic and fitness publications. She holds an English degree and Business certificate from the University of Wisconsin.
