Benefitfocus Launches Personalized Decision Support Tool to Help American Workers Optimize Benefits Enrollment, Savings Decisions

By: Benefitfocus, Inc. via GlobeNewswire

May 31, 2023 at 08:45 AM EDT

CHARLESTON, S.C., May 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Benefitfocus, a benefits administration company committed to helping organizations and the people they serve get the most out of their health care and benefit programs, today announced it is launching a new decision support tool that provides guidance to help workers make more informed decisions when selecting their workplace benefits. Powered by SAVVI Financial, a leading technology-enabled financial wellness platform, the digital experience integrates employer-specific benefits and provides employees with personalized guidance on medical, dental, vision and supplemental health insurance, as well as contribution guidance for health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible savings accounts (FSAs). With the decision support tool, employees can compare their options based on expected use scenarios in order to gain a more holistic understanding of how best to allocate their paycheck across their workplace benefits.

Embedded into the enrollment process, the new interactive experience has the capability to pull in relevant employee information, including salary, dependents and current HSA/FSA balances, to estimate employees’ overall household health care needs. It then guides employees through a series of questions and presents several personalized combinations for medical, dental, vision and any voluntary benefits.

An initial review of the output of the guidance was conducted by a third-party firm to validate the impartiality and quality of the suggested actions. While employees have the flexibility to review all plan options available from their employer, those plans considered in the best interest of the employee based on the tool are highlighted. Employees can then review these options, see how they compare to their spouse’s benefits when applicable, and in a single click to their enrollment platform, they can enroll in their desired coverages using pre-filled information provided by the guidance tool and based on their personalized needs.

“Most employees receive recommendations about their health and financial benefits separately, which can lead to sub-optimal decisions that may significantly impact both their health and finances,” said Tina Provancal, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Benefitfocus. “Understanding that everyone has a finite budget for where their hard-earned paycheck goes, our decision support capabilities provide guidance and impartial options across their workplace benefits — helping employees to avoid decision fatigue and guesswork, while balancing their health care costs with their anticipated needs.”

According to Benefitfocus, many individuals make inefficient decisions on how to spend their benefits dollars. For example, a recent study¹ found that the majority of participating employees picked the more expensive medical insurance plans, even when lower costs were more likely with a low-cost plan. The employees not choosing the low-cost plan were found to have overpaid for health insurance by nearly $1,700. In addition, a separate research report found that an estimated one-third of workers are saving less than 5% of their income for retirement² when it is felt they should be investing about 15% to 20% of earnings, including any employer match, if they want to maintain a comfortable standard of living in their later years.

“It’s challenging for employees to connect the dots on how one choice impacts another — for example, if they select a high-deductible health plan rather than a PPO, they may not understand they can choose to use any savings to help fund a health savings account and/or a retirement account,” added Provancal. “Benefitfocus’ personalized decision support tool helps employees understand the bigger picture. It helps individuals make more informed decisions and optimize their ‘next dollar’ across their workplace benefits — helping them to help maximize their benefits spend.”

“Health care decisions can impact every aspect of an employee’s financial life: their cash flow, their savings and even their retirement,” explained Gina Mourtzinou, CEO of SAVVI Financial. “This personalized decision support tool will help participants gain more clarity, so they can act with confidence when selecting their workplace benefits.”

To learn more about Benefitfocus’ personalized decision support tool, click here.

About Benefitfocus
At Benefitfocus, a Voya Financial^® business, our mission is simple: To improve lives with benefits. We are committed to helping organizations, and the people they serve, get the most out of their health care and benefit programs. Through exceptional service and innovative benefits administration technology we help simplify the complexity of benefits and deliver an experience that engages people for better health and improved outcomes. Learn more at www.benefitfocus.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About SAVVI
SAVVI is a financial technology company that uses artificial intelligence and robust optimization to help individuals make better financial decisions. The platform offers tax-smart financial and benefit guidance and is available to individuals and employers. As an SEC-registered investment advisor, SAVVI Financial is committed to providing its clients with high-quality financial advice and services. Voya has a financial ownership interest in and business relationships with SAVVI that create an incentive for Voya to promote SAVVI’s products and services and for SAVVI to promote Voya’s products and services. Please access and read SAVVI’s Firm Brochure which is available at this link: https://www.savvifi.com/legal/form-adv. It contains general information about SAVVI’s business, including conflicts of interest. Learn more at www.savvifi.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Media Contact:

Maurissa Kanter
843-981-8859
Maurissa.kanter@benefitfocus.com

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¹TIAA Institute: https://www.tiaa.org/content/dam/tiaa/institute/pdf/insights-report/2020-09/tiaa-institute-overpaying-and-undersaving-ti-friedberg-leive-september-2020docx-2.pdf
² Insured Retirement Institute: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/retirement/2022/02/23/older-workers-arent-saving-enough-for-retirement/49845927/