Upcoming conversations: open enrollment and delayed medical care

Benefits professionals are a curious bunch. No, I’m not talking about your personalities — we’ll save that conversation for another day… I mean your insatiable hunger for learning and exploring new ideas. From exhibit hall meetings, to LinkedIn posts and comments, to late-night conversations at the hotel bar, it seems many of you are “always on” when it comes to benefits and health care. Inevitably, this passion bleeds into other aspects of life, including the friendships you make and the books you read.

I rarely have a conversation without eventually bringing up reading (just ask my family and friends), and nearly every advisor I talk to ends up recommending a book — or three. Whether at the recent Health Rosetta conference in Denver, Q4live in D.C. earlier this summer, or at various other events across the country, I always end up jotting down a few great recommendations in my notebook. This was the genesis of this month’s, “Benefits Book Club,” a collection of some of your favorite recent reads and all-time favorites. If you’re looking for your next good book, be sure to check it out. Offerings run the gamut, from health care and self-help to escapism and spirituality.

But before you run off to the library or bookstore, there’s plenty of good stuff to read right here. This issue examines the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and the economic instability facing your clients as they head into Q4. But many employers’ plans might surprise you.

As Scott Wooldridge writes in “Uncharted waters,” “the emphasis seems to be on doing more for employees. This open enrollment season should reflect that trend, with fewer companies reducing benefits and many more expanding their offerings to meet employees’ demands.”

But how will this year’s enrollment meetings differ from the past? Lindsay Deon writes that employers are “three years into an open enrollment strategy turned upside down, as they scramble for the most effective ways to communicate employee benefits to a workforce that has largely flipped to a hybrid or fully remote model.”

Another topic sure to dominate upcoming conversations is the ongoing impacts of health care costs. In “Brace Yourselves,” Dan Cook explores the potential impacts of delayed medical care, especially from chronic diseases. But it’s not all doom and gloom, as “a growing number of medical experts believe the pandemic handed plan sponsors powerful tools to help improve the health of their chronically ill plan members.”

Given everything happening around us, is it any wonder you’re always on?