For years, employers have been told that meaningful change in health insurance is risky —that employees won’t understand it, won’t want it, or won’t engage with something that looks different from the status quo. But clinging to the status quo has become the bigger risk. It has become a shared burden that drives higher costs and worse experiences for everyone involved.
Employees aren’t just aware of this. They’re ready for something different.
According to a Sidecar Health survey of consumers on traditional network-based employer-sponsored health insurance, dissatisfaction with the current model is widespread, and openness to change is just as common:
- 76% of employees want their employer to change its approach to health insurance
- 75% say they’re willing to learn a new insurance model, as long as it saves money, makes care easier to access, and gives them more control1
A new approach to health insurance can feel unfamiliar simply because traditional insurance has been the default for so long. Familiarity, however, shouldn’t be mistaken for satisfaction.
In practice, this kind of change isn’t new at all. Consumers already navigate more transparent, consumer-friendly models in nearly every other part of their lives, including banking, travel, shopping, and entertainment. They compare prices, make informed decisions, and expect systems to work for them — not against them.
Health insurance shouldn’t be the exception.
What this research makes clear is that employees aren’t clinging to the old model out of loyalty or comfort. They’re staying in it because it’s what they’ve been given. When presented with an alternative that aligns incentives and puts them back in control, most are not only open to it. They’re actively asking for it.
The takeaway for employers is simple: meaningful change isn’t something employees need to be protected from. It’s something they’re ready for.
1 Sidecar Health survey of consumers on traditional network-based employer-sponsored health insurance. November 2024.
Related Posts
