An Aflac survey found that American workers spend little time selecting their healthcare benefits each year, with 90% choosing the same benefits and 64% not understanding changes to their coverage. Workers also spend much more time on activities like vacation planning, researching car purchases, and choosing electronics than on their employee benefits. This lack of understanding and preparation results in workers wasting an estimated average of $750 per year due to mistakes made during open enrollment.

1. Workers don’t take the time to
understand their benefit choices
Aflac surveyed American workers and found:
90% choose the same benefts year after year.**
64% say they rarely or never understand the changes
in their beneft coverage.**
47% spend less than 30 minutes selecting their health care
benefts *and 41% spend less than 15 minutes researching their
beneft options.**
Source:
*2014 Aflac WorkForces Report
**2014 Alfac Open Enrollment Survey
Z140791A 8/14

2. Time well spent?
Workers spend 20 timesmore efort on
vacation planning and 16 timesmore time
selecting a computer than on choosing
health insurance.
In fact in a recent survey, 41%said they spend
less than 15minutes selecting their health
care benefits. 1
In comparison, they spend a lot more time: 2
Researching new car purchases – 10 hours
Researching mortgage loans – 5 hours
Planning vacations – 5 hours
Shopping for new computers – 4 hours
Deciding what televisions to buy – 2 hours
Source:
12014 Aflac Open Enrollment Survey
2Zillow Mortgage Marketplace Survey, accessed June 18, 2014 -
http://zillow.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=28775&item=85029
Z140791D 8/14

3. Lack of understanding of insurance
leads to wasted money
Aflac surveyed American workers and found:
73% say they only sometimes or rarely understand everything
that is covered in their policy.*
62% say they rarely have a full understanding of their
deductible costs.*
42% estimate they waste up to $750 a year because of
mistakes made during open enrollment.**
Source:
*2014 Aflac WorkForces Report
**2014 Aflac Open Enrollment Survey
Z140971G 8/14

4. Health expenses higher and workers are
not prepared financially
Aflac surveyed American workers and found:
On average, workers spent $1,569 more on health care this
year than last year.**
69% say they regularly underestimate the total costs of an
illness or injury.*
53% say their health care costs were considerably or
somewhat more than last year.**
49% have $1,000 or less to pay unexpected out-of-pocket
medical expenses, and 27% said they have less than $500.*
Source:
*2014 Aflac WorkForces Report
**2014 Aflac Open Enrollment Survey
Z140791K 8/14

5. Many workers waste $750 annually on
benefits mistakes
Aflac surveyed American workers and discovered 42%
estimate they waste up to $750 a year because of mistakes
made during open enrollment.1 That’sequivalent to:
Three weeks of grocery for a family of four. 2
211 gallons of gasoline, which is enough to fll the average
mid-size car’s tank 14 times. 3, 4
10 months’ worth of diapers for an infant. 5
A family of four seeing 22 box-offce-hit movies. 6
Three iPhone 5Cs with 32 GB of storage. 7
Source:
12014 Aflac Open Enrollment Survey.
2US Dept. of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy & Promotion, Oicial USDA
Food Plans, US Average, June 2014, accessed July 30, 2014:
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2014/CostofFoodJun2014.pdf
3 US Energy Information Administration, Gasoline Release Date 7/28/14 $3.54,
accessed July 30, 2014, http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/
4 Average size of car gas tank, mid-size car is 15 gallon, accessed July 30, 2014:
http://www.ask.com/question/how-many-gallons-will-the-average-gas-tank-hold 5
Disposable diapers average cost, $72 per month, accessed July 30, 2014:
http://www.babycenter.com/baby-cost-calculator
6 Average movie ticket costs $8.33, accessed July 30, 2014
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/average-movie-ticket-price-hits-720316
7 Apple Store, $199, accessed July 30, 2014
http://store.apple.com/us/buy-iphone/iphone5c?aid=www-k2-iphone+5c+-+index-n
%40b&cp=k2-iphone+5c+-n%40b