Human resources executives may have devoted a lot of time and investment to boosting health benefits and health-related services, but that doesn’t mean their workers are reaping all the benefits.

Some workers, in fact, are having more trouble than others in negotiating their way through the system. According to the Consumer Healthcare Experience Index survey, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of health care concierge Accolade, younger workers — those under 30 years old — and working families need more support to navigate both health care and benefits, or they won’t be able to avail themselves of improvements that employers have added.

Young workers averaging under 30 years old are the most lacking in confidence about their ability to work their way through the health care system. Just 56 percent say they are comfortable doing so, while among retirees the figure is much higher: 76 percent say they’re comfortable tackling the health care system.

Those young workers also have the least positive experience with their health care and benefits — only 38 percent regard it as positive — and encounter the most hassles in areas such as understanding cost, coordinating care, choosing and understanding benefits, and finding a doctor they can relate to. They also blame financial issues and a lack of knowledge about health care as their top reasons for making poor health decisions.

Working families, while a little older at an average age of 39, were the second least impressed by their benefits experience, at 42 percent. They said they spend a significantly greater amount of time handling healthcare issues than either younger or older workers, which could be due to having to tackle the additional health needs of children and parents or other relatives.

What drives working families’ poor healthcare decisions? Most — 60 percent — lay the blame on the cost of services and medications as the top reason, but 42 percent also say competing responsibilities are the reason. Among other groups, those two reasons are each cited by an average of 30 percent of respondents.

Older workers, with an average age of 56, do better than either of the aforementioned groups, but even there they’re not happy; just 45 percent gave the experience a positive rating. Retirees, on the other hand, at an average age of 69, seem most comfortable with their health care decision-making abilities, at 76 percent; they also report the most positive health care experience (59 percent) and perceive the fewest hassles in navigating their care and benefits.

“Companies are spending millions of dollars each year launching programs and different point solutions to help their employees use health care effectively, but this survey shows how individuals are getting lost in the process,” Robert Cavanaugh, president of field operations for Accolade, said in a statement.

Cavanaugh added, “Health benefits executives should be asking if they’re really getting the maximum return on these tools and technologies, if they’re actually creating additional problems and complexity for employees, and whether programs are working for everyone, from young workers to working families to older workers at different stages of their life and health journeys.”

Instant Insights /

Navigating health care is harder for younger employees

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