Is the Voluntary Benefits Market Built to Serve… or to Profit? | Amy Hollis x SCALE Community

Inside the $60B voluntary benefits market—Amy Hollis on transparency, utilization, and rethinking how employers & carriers deliver value.

In this episode of the Analyzing Healthcare podcast’s Healthcare Technology & Innovation series, host Jason Schifman, Co-Founder & President of SCALE Healthcare, sits down with Amy Hollis, Founder & CEO of Employees First, to pull back the curtain on the $60B voluntary benefits market.

They explore how employers, employees, and insurance carriers interact in this space—and why the product structure is sound, but the ecosystem is flawed. Hollis shares insights from 20+ years in healthcare and benefits consulting, covering market size, employee participation rates, utilization challenges, carrier strategies, and the role of transparency in driving better outcomes.

From self-funding models to claims data visibility and integrated supplemental–core benefit strategies, this conversation is packed with actionable intelligence for healthcare leaders, benefits consultants, and employer decision-makers.

Title - Is the Voluntary Benefits Market Built to Serve… or to Profit? | Amy Hollis x SCALE Community

Key Timestamps:

• {00:00} Understanding the Voluntary Benefits Market
• {02:56} Market Size and Employee Participation
• {05:52} Drivers of Employee Adoption
• {08:51} Utilization Challenges in Voluntary Benefits
• {11:46} Evaluating the Product Fit
• {14:53} The Ecosystem of Voluntary Benefits
• {17:58} The Role of Insurance Carriers
• {21:01} Future of Integrated Benefits
• {29:34} Understanding the Challenges in Healthcare Benefits
• {32:24} Innovative Approaches to Self-Funding
• {34:55} Transparency in Claims and Costs
• {40:57} Client Engagement and Market Dynamics
• {46:24} Addressing Employer Concerns and Risks
• {51:14} Comparing Voluntary and Medical Benefits

Key Takeaways:

• Understanding the $60B voluntary benefits market and its misunderstood value
• Why employee participation ranges from 2% to 35%
• The growing role of insurance carriers in supplemental benefits
• Low utilization rates and the awareness gap
• Risks of transparency and employer liability in today’s environment
• How integration with core medical benefits could unlock value
• Innovative self-funding approaches and market dynamics
• Educating employers on options and shifting incentives

About the Guest:

Amy Hollis, Founder & CEO of Employees First, is a 20+ year healthcare and benefits consulting veteran. She specializes in bringing transparency, accountability, and value to the voluntary benefits market. Amy’s innovative model realigns incentives, exposes inefficiencies, and returns dollars to benefit plans—empowering employers with informed choices and employees with better coverage.

About the Host:

Jason Schifman is Co-Founder & President of SCALE Healthcare and host of the Analyzing Healthcare podcast’s Healthcare Technology & Innovation series. A leading voice in healthcare transformation, he blends strategic, operational, and financial expertise to help multi-site systems scale efficiently, adopt value-based care, and deliver measurable improvements in patient outcomes and organizational performance.

Connect with Amy Hollis on LinkedIn

Connect with Jason Schifman on LinkedIn

Keywords

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