Americans Ready To Choose Coverage During 2022 Open Enrollment

More than eight out of ten survey participants in UnitedHealthcare’s sixth annual Consumer Sentiment Survey indicated that they are ready to choose a health plan during 2022 open enrollment season.

“Most Americans said they are prepared to select a health plan during this year’s open enrollment season, while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spur interest in virtual care for medical services and digital fitness apps to help people pursue at-home fitness routines,” the press release shared.

UnitedHealthcare fielded the survey from September 10 through September 12, 2021 and received 1,013 responses from individuals 18 years old and older.

Baby Boomer and Generation X respondents were most likely to feel prepared to make their selection for plan year 2022.

Three in ten consumers spent under an hour researching health plans and another three in ten respondents said they spent up to three hours researching.

Forty-four percent of respondents stated that the coronavirus pandemic had influenced which health plan was their preferred health plan, with Generation Z respondents’ decision making being the most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic (60 percent). 

Participants noted a variety of reasons for their health plan preferences. Of those whose decisions were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, 16 percent of respondents were looking for a health plan with lower out-of-pocket healthcare spending. 

Others focused on wellness programming (13 percent). In fact, employees demonstrated support for wellness programs. Over seven in ten respondents who had access to wellness programs through their health plan said that these programs were useful in helping them improve their health. 

Over half of the individuals who had access to wellness programming said that they would leverage digital tools in concert with wellness programming options if the tools were made available. 

The survey underscored how the coronavirus pandemic drove consumers to digital fitness: 30 percent of individuals used wellness apps as part of their fitness routines, half of whom started using these resources during the pandemic.

Smaller fractions of the population whose health plan choices were influenced by the coronavirus pandemic said that they sought better benefits or a national plan as opposed to a regional plan.

While respondents did not indicate whether or not specialty benefits influenced their decision-making, eight out of ten survey participants said that specialty benefits such as vision and dental coverage are important.

Respondents were interested in using technology beyond wellness programming. Seven out of ten respondents were open to using digital methods of accessing care and half had already used the internet or a mobile app to compare health plans for 2022 open enrollment season. One-fifth of respondents preferred receiving primary care services through virtual care.

“With access to health benefits and care more important than ever amid COVID-19, this year’s survey indicates growing confidence among some Americans in making more informed benefit decisions during open enrollment, as well as continued interest in using technology to evaluate and access health care,” Rebecca Madsen, chief consumer officer of UnitedHealthcare, said in the press release. 

“We hope this year’s survey results can contribute to keeping people better informed about their health care benefits and choices.”

The results sync with a separate study from ValuePenguin which revealed that 35 percent of respondents were considering switching health plans due to the coronavirus pandemic. This influence was particularly strong among Generation Z and Millennial participants in the study.

The participants’ sentiments regarding wellness programming also represent a continuation of trends that started in 2020, when a separate UnitedHealthcare survey found that three-quarters of respondents who had used a wellness program had seen their health improve as a result.

Members are not the only stakeholders whose open enrollment experience has been influenced by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, payers had to lean more heavily on virtual member engagement due to the need for social distancing. As the 2022 open enrollment season continues, payers may continue to see the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.