Health insurers who have a low conversion of
commercial to Medicare members may have an awareness issue. Challenges on
increasing awareness include siloism among commercial and Medicare departments
within health insurer corporations. Opportunities include creating strategies
to encourage collaboration and incentives to provide the motivation for these
groups to work together and provide the right Medicare plan to their commercial
members.
Many
commercial members are not aware their health insurers offer Medicare plans
Deft Research examined the importance of
awareness of Medicare offerings as eligible seniors age-in to Medicare. This
chart shows the stark contrast between the Medicare enrollment plans of members
who are aware of their current insurer’s Medicare offerings and those who are
not aware. Members who are aware of their insurers’ Medicare plans are
more than twice as likely to plan on continuing with their current insurer than
to switch to another insurer.
Source:
Deft Research 2017 Medicare Age-In Study
In contrast, members who are unsure about
their current insurers’ offering are more than twice as likely to plan on
switching insurers. Clearly, getting the word out to existing members is
critical to avoid losing these members to competitors.
Separate departments
make communication difficult
Most health insurers have separate departments
and teams of people who manage commercial health insurance versus Medicare.
This siloism within the corporation makes it difficult to collaborate. During
RISE’s The 12th Annual Medicare Marketing & Sales Summit, Sarah
Fernandes from Health New England suggested organizations set internal goals to
increase collaboration between the commercial and Medicare marketing and sales
departments. Increasing the number of conversations between these two groups
opens more opportunities to work together. Fernandes said these conversations
have led the two departments at her health plan to collaborate on several
projects to increase conversion of commercial members to Health New England
Medicare plans
Incentives motivate
commercial agents to refer members to Medicare agents
Another strategy that we heard many plans
using is a referral program. The program works well because commercial agents
already have a relationship with the members, but Medicare agents have the
Medicare plan knowledge. The referral allows members to learn about Medicare
plans that are right for them, and the commercial agent participates in the
meeting to build on the trust the member already has with the health plan. This
provides a better experience for the member and strengthens the relationship
that the member has with the plan.
Medicare referrals
from indirect channels bring more opportunities with commercial members
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services’ recent guideline changes that focus more on educational materials
versus member acquisition and marketing materials opens the door to referrals.
Health care providers area a key source of referrals given their relationships
with members and their understanding of their medical conditions.
Holly Ackman from SCAN Health Plan emphasized
the importance of training and education during her session of The 12th
Annual Medicare Marketing & Sales Summit. The SCAN brand is built
on developing relationships both outside of the organization with members and
internally with other departments. SCAN aims to get the right information
to the right people, so members feel like they’re heard and that the health
plan knows their personal situation, which leads to a better member experience.
Ackman said SCAN’s strong brand reputation has also led to Medicare members who
are in their late 80s to refer the health plan to their children who are in
their mid-60s.
Deft Research’s syndicated research
studies provide a national benchmark for health insurance
carriers to gauge the Medicare and Employer Group and Individual markets.
Health insurers that are interested in surveying their own members and
prospects engage Deft Research in custom research studies to
provide insight for their marketing and product strategies. Contact Deft
Research with any questions you may have regarding syndicated and custom
research needs.
https://blog.deftresearch.com/resources/converting-commercial-members-to-medicare-members-barriers-and-opportunities
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