CIGNA Launches Interactive Benefits Site in Response to Changing Worksite Demands

By Diana Garber

Although healthcare and retirement benefit information is now widely accessible on the Internet, 80 percent of employees do not utilize available Web sites to actively stay up to date about their personal insurance status, according to a CIGNA Corp. workplace survey. However, the problem seems to be less about accessing benefits information on line than about a failure of insurers and other benefits providers to tailor existing sites to the needs and habits of their employees, the CIGNA study suggests.

The survey findings contributed to CIGNA's decision to create its own interactive Web site, MyCIGNA.com (launched last week) to ensure that employees can manage personal insurance information online, in a way that matches their requirements.

The study, "Online Disconnect: Matching Web Benefits To Real Employee Needs," says there is a significant gap between what employers offer and what employees want from online benefits information. "Employees ultimately want personalized information tailored to meet their individual health and retirement needs—not a one-size-fits-all Web page. Employers are missing an opportunity to increase employee satisfaction," according to H. Edward Hanway, chairman and CEO of Philadelphia-based CIGNA.

Since most insurance benefits-related Web sites do not fit employees' criteria, the study found, most revert to other, more traditional methods of reviewing their insurance coverage. Sixty-seven percent of employees surveyed say they still process benefits through the postal system, 53 percent use the telephone and 58 percent work with benefit managers. Only 20 percent of employees in the study said they use online services to manage their plans.

When asked if they would like to be more involved in managing their own insurance, nearly half of the employees and employers polled said yes; they also thought that it would be to their advantage to be able to access health insurance and retirement plans information online, discovered the CIGNA study, which interviewed 1,000 employees over the age of 18, as well as 200 employers. Fifty-two percent said that they are interested in examining their own healthcare and retirement plans and feel that online access would allow them to be more involved.

In fact, according to the study, not only do customers want to interact more online, but they also know exactly what they want Web sites to do. The CIGNA survey said 65 percent of respondents would like to be able to see personal account balances of retirement plans online, while 60 percent would like to view 401(k) contributions. For healthcare insurance coverage, online needs were slightly different, with 57 percent of respondents indicating they would like the ability to review healthcare options. Fifty-five percent of those polled said they would also like the ability to assess the status of their medical claims.

Practicing what it is preaching, CIGNA has decided to create its own interactive Web site to ensure that employees can manage personal insurance information online. According to Joe Mondy, CIGNA's communications leader, e-commerce, the survey showed that the existing CIGNA Web site was not suited to customer needs. The site lacked interactive and personalized features, notes Mondy. Also, the survey indicated employees want Web sites that do not confuse them and are not unnecessarily complicated.

MyCIGNA.com, which was activated last week, offers personalized information tailored to customers' specific insurance and retirement plans. "The Web is growing up beyond initial waves, where the primary focus was entertainment," Mondy says. "The Web can help people, and that is being recognized and leveraged now."

MyCIGNA users will be able to track and review medical claims, view retirement accounts and perform transactions including ordering prescriptions online. The free service is being launched with the help of Sunnyvale, CA-based Yahoo! and Sun Microsystems (Palo Alto, CA). Approximately 16 million subscribers will have access to the new Web site.