Auto-Pilot No More Stop Watch Enroll

We are knee deep in November which means the holidays are probably foremost in your mind. You might be thinking what should I get my son for Christmas? I know the perfect dessert to serve at this years Thanksgiving feast? It is hard not to think about the holidays when the evidence surrounds us. However usually November and December signify another season. For many people open enrollment begins. If you work for a company that offers benefits such as medical, dental, vision, etc. then I’m sure you are familiar with the term. This is the time when you have the opportunity to make changes or re-evaluate your situation.

Thankfully my place of employment is very helpful with this matter. Each open enrollment period a meeting is held where all employees are ask to attend. In this meeting we are told about any big or minor changes in our plan. For example our co-pays could change, a new procedure is covered or not covered, or we have changed companies all together. However not all companies provide this service and many employees don’t take the time to look into or re-evaluate their coverage and stay on autopilot. Did you know more than 60 percent of employees went on “auto-pilot” last fall, meaning they neglected to make any changes to their plans? Not spending enough time or keeping the same coverage from year to year could leave you under-protected or missing out on financial savings.

What to Think About During Open Enrollment

• What would you do in the event you experienced a sudden income loss?
• Did you or your spouse receive a salary raise in the last year? Do you need to update your life insurance policy or disability coverage to reflect the new income.
• Is one or more of your children getting to the age they’ll need dental care or major dental work such as orthodontia? Is it time to upgrade your dental insurance.
• Is one of your children going to start driving soon? With a new driver in the home, re-evaluating auto and/or home insurance is an important thing to do.

Metlife is sure you don’t want to be on auto-pilot. So they have created a series of informational videos called  Stop.Watch.Enroll

Getting Insurance at Work Video

Tip: Look for tools and resources to help you make the most of the benefit options available to you and your family. MetLife has an easy-to-use life or disability insurance calculator, which can provide instant quotes. When using these tools, you’ll be prompted to answer a few quick questions, and then you’ll received customized recommendations right away.

Check out some of these statistics  from a survey conducted in 2012, titled the 11th Annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefit Trends.

Have you started open enrollment yet? Maybe your spouse handles all the details. We encourage you to take a minute and watch the above video before you just say “no changes” please. Here is an additional infographic with just a little bit of visual proof that the time it takes to evaluate your benefits is much less than the time we spending doing many other things each day. It is important that your benefits are there for you in your time of need, so take a few minutes and make sure you are taking advantage of all your employer has to offer.

Did you make any changes this year? Notice any differences in your coverage or premiums? Did you have a life event that will effect your benefits such as a marriage or baby?