The key for employers is the 56 percent who say they would appreciate help from the company in making health plan decisions. That figure, argues HR Dive, represents a major opportunity for employers to help workers out. The best way to help them through a process they find convoluted, it adds, is by using simple language to explain the steps and options.

“Employers are seeing success with the right combination of accurate, clear information and tools to explain the perks in clean, clear language,” writes HR Dive’s Tom Starner.

While past surveys have shown that American workers strongly consider benefits when choosing a job, there is an equal amount of evidence that shows they don’t have a strong grasp of the benefits their employers offer them, including health insurance and retirement.

Much of the ignorance is because of the fact that for generations, many employers have offered comprehensive insurance that covered the great majority of workers’ health care costs. Relatively few workers with employer-based insurance had to make decisions about costs; those were made by the employer and remained largely hidden from the average employee.

After nearly two decades of rapidly rising health costs, however, many employers are moving toward high-deductible health plans or consumer-driven health plans. More are also offering a greater array of plans for workers to pick from.

In the long term, advocates hope, employees will become more sophisticated health care shoppers and make choices that prod the health care system into competing for consumers in a way that is more in line with traditional market economics. But the country still has a ways to go.