Powered by SAVVI Financial, enhanced version of myHealthMoney can help employees make more informed benefits decisions to advance their health and wealth needs
New Voya research uncovers bias against high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), which could lead to employees overspending on health care
Voya Financial, Inc., announced today that it has launched a new version of its myHealthMoney digital assistant, which provides sophisticated 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 tool now integrates employer-specific benefits and provides employees with a personalized recommendation on medical, dental, vision and supplement health insurance, as well as contribution guidance for health savings accounts (HSAs) and flexible savings accounts (FSAs). This enhanced version of the myHealthMoney tool is available to Voya’s workplace clients and customers, as well as Voya’s own employees.
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“The health and wealth needs of Americans are connected like never before, which the COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified. High costs, combined with the complexity of choosing the right plan, can make health care decisions difficult for employees — many of whom are already struggling to save for retirement,” explained Rob Grubka, chief executive officer of Health Solutions for Voya Financial.
“The myHealthMoney tool is designed to make health care benefits and savings decisions easier, and research shows employees welcome the power of decision support tools. A recent Voya study found more than seven in 10 employees (73%) said they are interested in guidance and support tools that would help them understand how much money to put aside for retirement, emergency savings and health care expenses1,” added Grubka.
How does myHealthMoney work?
Initially launched as an HSA contribution digital assistant in 2020, Voya’s enhanced version of myHealthMoney now provides sophisticated guidance to help employees optimize several of their workplace benefits. Powered by SAVVI Financial and accessed through the participant’s account, myHealthMoney is an interactive experience that guides employees through a series of questions that leads to recommendations for a medical health plan, supplemental health insurance and HSA/FSA contribution guidance, based on their unique situation. For example, it takes into account family size, typical health-care spending, retirement dates and savings goals. Instead of calculating and comparing options manually, the employee receives personalized scenarios that illustrate the cost of each option and take into consideration their risk tolerance. The scenarios also give them the opportunity to see how different supplemental health products offered by their employer can work together.
“Voya piloted this enhanced version of myHealthMoney with our own employees during the fall open enrollment period, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. In a small pilot survey, 77% of respondents said they felt more prepared to manage health care expenses after using myHealthMoney2,” explained Andrew Frend, SVP of Health Solutions Product and Strategy. “We understand that benefits decisions are complicated. Decision-support tools like myHealthMoney can take some of the complexity out of the equation — which, hopefully, leads to employees making more informed benefits selections to help improve their financial wellness.”
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Health benefit decisions impact financial wellness
Voya recently launched a study to better understand how people make health plan decisions and why they choose the plans they do during open enrollment. The key findings are summarized in a new Voya white paper — Retirement at Risk: The relationship between overspending on health care and retirement readiness.3
Interestingly, the research reveals employees often have a bias against high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) when compared to more traditional health plans, like a preferred provider organization (PPO) plan. In one part of the study, participants were presented with two different plans and told to think of them as identical in quality of care, access to care and all other features beyond cost. The only difference in the HDHP vs. PPO plans was the premiums and deductibles. Almost two-thirds of study participants (65%) chose the PPO plan — despite the fact that the study was purposefully designed so the HDHP would always be the optimal financial choice. As a result, Voya uncovered three key reasons to help explain this decision-making mindset:
- Naming of the plan has influence on enrollment — Participants were almost twice as likely to choose a PPO plan over an HDHP when the words “high deductible” were used in the plan name (65% PPO vs. 35% HDHP). This preference noticeably lessens when the plans are unbranded (53% PPO vs. 47% HDHP).3
- Inertia among employees to “set and forget” — 89% of respondents said they just pick the same health plan from the prior year, especially those enrolled in a PPO versus a HDHP (94% vs. 80% respectively).3
- General aversion to deductibles – Almost two-thirds of participants (63%) said they would pick the plan with the lowest deductible.3
“Voya’s research highlights the potential impact overspending on health benefits can have on workers’ financial wellness. Depending on their health care utilization, we found that the average employee would have spent between $500 and $2,500 more throughout the year3 — which is money a person could be saving for retirement, contributing to an HSA or putting aside for an emergency,” explained Frend. “This study illustrates the value of decision-support tools like myHealthMoney to help employees begin to see — and understand — which benefits are best for them as they work to build a secure financial future.”
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