The recent 2021 Aflac Workforces Report showed that almost half of employees surveyed said that a thousand dollars would be the max that they could pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses. A similar number said couldn’t exceed a month without a paycheck.
Winnie Sun, financial expert and renowned “wealth whisperer” says we know health care costs are becoming a greater portion of the household’s budget so for many of us this is open enrollment season, and we are going to be making decisions on things like life insurance, insurance, premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses and unfortunately these costs are getting more expensive than many of us realize. She says with the pandemic we are looking more carefully at these costs seeing where we need to save or spend more, so we have a lot to think about.
Winnie says one thing that we found compelling is that Americans are actually getting proactive and planning ahead. She says nearly half of those surveyed said that they purchased one new benefit in response to COVID-19. This really made an impact on their financial budgets. They added things like life insurance, critical illness, or hospital indemnity plan, telehealth services or mental health resources. Winnies says 90% surveyed believed in need for supplemental benefits like the ones that Aflac offers. They are designed to pay employees cash to cover what health insurance doesn’t.
Winnie says many companies still plan to maintain their same existing health coverage but they are thinking this is what their employees want. She says studies have shown that 75% of employers think that workers are happy with their benefits package but only 61% of employees actually would agree with that, so more than half of American workers share that they value supplemental insurance like critical illness, hospital, cancer policies as part of their overall program. Employers are paying attention. Winnie says they noticed that when employers add these sorts of programs in, and employees enroll in the right combo of healthcare and supplemental policies that they feel better protected, they feel more valued and less stressed, so employers are happier, and employees are definitely happier too.
For more information visit Aflacworkforcesreport.com
