Four representatives from the TI Alumni Association recently met at TI with executives from Towers Watson’s OneExchange where they had the opportunity to voice fellow retirees’ concerns and report gaps experienced during open enrollment. The meeting was organized by TI’s Health Benefits team, who prepared this summary for TI retirees.
Last fall, TI transitioned retiree health care coverage for age 65 or older retirees from the TI group retiree health plan to a private Medicare exchange run by OneExchange. TI retirees selected 565 unique plans from 71 different carriers, which provided more comprehensive coverage than the previous TI group plans.
Some retirees reported frustrating experiences during enrollment, including background noise during calls, longer-than-expected wait times, multiple hand-offs and difficulty in understanding OneExchange benefit advisors. OneExchange cited unprecedented turnover among its seasonal workers during peak enrollment season as one reason for the issues.
OneExchange representatives apologized and said that in the company’s 10-year history, last year was the first time that many of its customers, including TI, reported a frustrating enrollment experience for their retirees.
Representatives told the retirees that they had taken the feedback to heart and planned several improvements to address them.
Improvements promised by OneExchange include:
- Investing in new telephone equipment and software.
- Improving hiring practices, especially when staffing up for seasonal enrollment.
- Integrating innovations from recent Towers Watson acquisitions to improve administration of the Retiree Reimbursement Account (RRA) program.
- Continuing to enhance the caller experience, including exploring ways to reduce the repetitive compliance statements.
“We appreciate the candor OneExchange has shown today,” said Ben Carter, vice president of TI Compensation & Benefits, who led the meeting. “The good news is that the issues encountered are ones that can be addressed. We will continue to push for improvements.”