Private exchanges cause communications problems for employers—One of 3 things you need to know this week in employee benefits

Communications hurdles trip up employers using private insurance exchanges

At the Private Healthcare Exchanges conference in Chicago, several leading-edge employers reported communications problems when shifting their workforce to a private exchange from traditional benefits plans and delivery models.

One benefits professional characterized her company’s shift from Kaiser to the Mercer private exchange as “total pandemonium,” according to a report in Employee Benefit News.

She added: “I don’t care what you do: You can do every checklist and [tell employees], ‘Know before you go,’ but until someone accesses care,” it’s difficult for employees to grasp the difference in experience between a traditional plan and an exchange model.

Another HR specialist whose company recently transitioned to the Liazon exchange said, “We just constantly remind [employees] that the marketplace is a living, breathing tool throughout the entire year. [The challenge is] getting them to refocus and redirect on how they think about their benefits and how they get their questions answered.”

GAO sting reveals gaps in verification procedures for exchange applicants

A sting conducted by the Government Accountability Office revealed that 11 of 12 fake applicants to public exchanges were extended coverage—plus subsidies totaling close to $30,000.

According to NBC News, the GAO launched the sting to test ACA’s checks and balances against counterfeit applications. Only one “applicant” was denied coverage because he was unable to provide a Social Security number.

Says Health and Human Services Department spokesman Kevin Griffis: “While the marketplace has several layers of safeguards in place to verify consumer data, including requiring consumers to submit accurate information to qualify for health coverage, we are examining this report carefully and will work with GAO to identify additional strategies to strengthen our verification processes.”

This week’s hidden gem: 6 questions to truly gauge employee engagement

Survey, schmurvey—employers don’t need formal employees polls to get a true measure of employee engagement, according to a blog post at hrcommunication.com.

Instead, employers need only ask six questions—and six nontraditional ones, at that. Among them:

• Before you started, you had a mental picture of what this job would be like: How does the actual movie compare with the trailer?
• When your friends and family members ask you what you do when you're at work, what kinds of adjectives do you use to describe it?
• If a high-school kid shadowed you for a day and asked you whether this was a good way to earn a living and live a good life, what would you tell them?

All of the questions, the blog notes, are ways to suss out employees’ perceptions about compensation, work-life balance, company culture and the nature of their work—all without asking them explicitly.

Bonus: Thank you for taking the Inside Benefits Communication survey!

We’re thrilled by the response to the 2014 Inside Benefits Communication survey—more than 300 industry professionals participated to share insight into the strategy and implementation of their communications efforts. We look forward to sharing the in-depth data and findings with you this fall. Our gratitude extends to all who participated, and of course, great appreciation to our survey partner, the National Business Coalition on Health.