When you enroll in health insurance, the options can feel overwhelming. You pick a plan, maybe add some supplemental coverage like accident or hospital indemnity insurance, and then life moves on. But research shows most employees never tap into the benefits they've purchased.
According to NFP's 2026 US Benefits Trend Report, fewer than one in three workers fully use their supplemental benefits. Even more striking: roughly 13% of employees don't realize they have supplemental coverage at all. That means thousands of people are paying into plans they never access, even when they experience events that would qualify them for payouts.
The disconnect usually happens because of a simple gap in awareness. An employee gets injured, lands in the hospital, or faces a medical emergency covered by their accident or critical illness plan. But in the moment—while recovering or managing a crisis—they don't make the mental connection between that event and the supplemental coverage they enrolled in months earlier. The claim never gets filed, and the benefit sits unused.
Mutual of Omaha's Workplace Solutions division and Claritev, a company with deep roots in claims processing, have just launched an integration to close this gap. The system scans medical claims data in real time, looking for events that trigger supplemental coverage eligibility. When it finds a match, it automatically notifies the employee and walks them through the claims process. No waiting for the employee to remember they have coverage, and no employer effort needed to nudge people along.
For employers, this matters more than it might seem. When renewal time arrives, brokers and carriers look at how much of the coverage a company bought actually got used. If utilization is low, renewal conversations become harder and more expensive. An automated claims system improves that picture without requiring HR to send additional emails or communications.
Claritev brings substantial experience to the partnership. The company processes claims for more than 750 health insurers, works with over 100,000 employers, and serves 60 million people across the country. With more than 45 years in claims processing, the infrastructure is built to handle this kind of real-time triggering at scale.
The broader trend reflects how employers are thinking about benefits. As healthcare costs climb, supplemental coverage has become a practical way to strengthen what you offer employees without the price tag of expanding core coverage. But a benefit only matters if people actually use it. By removing the friction between a qualifying event and the act of filing, this integration helps ensure the money employers spend on these plans translates into actual help for their people when they need it most.