Guardian: Empowering Retirees’ Financial Confidence With Insurance Benefits

More than 10,000 people turn 65 each day in the United States. While this time is often referred to as “the golden years,” many Americans are deeply concerned about how they’ll be able to afford retirement, including whether they have enough retirement savings.

This financial concern is compounded by the fact that many Americans lose access to their benefits as they exit the workforce. Even as retirees turn to Medicare, coverage is often not as comprehensive as employer-provided plans, especially when it comes to dental insurance. 

Mayra Garza, Head of Group Benefits Strategy and Retail Segment at Guardian, and her team are trying to change this. “Retirees, along with the millions of Americans who either don’t have access to traditional workplace benefits or are not eligible to participate in their employer’s benefit plans, have a growing and unmet need when it comes to their insurance benefits,” explained Garza. “Our focus is on enhancing access to close this gap, with an initial emphasis on dental, vision, and our forthcoming accident insurance policy.” 

The Connection Between Financial Wellness and Overall Well-Being

The connection between insurance benefits and financial confidence is somewhat straightforward. After all, close to half of Americans recently told Guardian that they’d face financial hardship without their benefits. But the subsequent impact this financial confidence has on retirees’ overall well-being is often less understood. 

First, consider that while well-being is based on several inputs, financial wellness plays an outsized role. When looking at the primary factors that influence wellness, Guardian found that the relative impact of financial health on overall well-being was 40%, compared with physical health (33%) and mental health (27%). 

Having strong financial confidence also impacts mental and physical well-being. For example, in the same Guardian report, 73% of Americans with high financial health also rated their emotional health as “good” or “very good.” On the other hand, 82% with low financial health also self-reported poor emotional health.

This connection isn’t just theoretical. In fact, in a recent review of over 200,000 anonymized dental claims, Guardian found that when Americans have access to dental insurance and use their benefits, they have better health outcomes and pay less if and when basic or major dental care is required. 

Put another way, when retirees have access to the insurance benefits they need, their well-being – mentally, physically, and emotionally – improves. 

Designing products that meet retirees’ needs is only the beginning. Garza and Guardian are equally focused on making sure retirees feel confident in using their benefits. 

To support member education and empower benefits utilization, Guardian takes a customer-centric approach. For Garza and her team, this includes using simple, easy-to-understand language when sharing benefit information, whether in member welcome kits, Guardian’s customer portal, or email reminders. 

They are also focused on providing a best-in-class member experience by utilizing a mix of fully digital and self-serve capabilities to help members better manage their benefits. For Guardian’s dental offering designed for retirees, this includes “find a dentist” search capabilities, which help members easily identify providers within Guardian’s dental network – one of the strongest dental networks in the industry. 

For retirees, access to and utilization of dental and vision insurance can play an important role in supporting their financial confidence, which forms the foundation of a person’s overall well-being.

As a result, dental and vision insurance benefits for retirees are a part of Guardian’s commitment to expand its product offerings and distribution touchpoints to reach more Americans without access to employer benefits. Guardian has stood behind millions of Americans for over 160 years thus far. In 2023, it helped support the financial well-being of millions of Americans by paying $7 billion in total benefits to policyholders. To learn more about this work, as well as the importance of benefits access for all Americans, check out Guardian’s online benefits research and insights hub, Guardian Edge.