Medicare Advantage | Changing the Way Health Care is Provided to, and Paid for by Seniors

Last week I had the privilege of attending the United Health Care kickoff meeting for Annual Enrollment Period for Medicare Advantage and Part D Prescription Drug Programs. This was a high level meeting held for the National Marketing Alliance’s,  and I felt fortunate to be able to attend. Much of the information looked like the following press release:

UHC Maintains Lead in Medicare MarketsMedicare Supplement market leader UnitedHealthcare (UHC) reported today it added 35,000 more lives in the 2nd quarter.

The UHC financial report features Standardized and Modernized policy in-force counts of 3,075,000 as of 2nd quarter 2012, a 35,000 increase over 1st quarter 2012 and a 215,000 increase over 2nd quarter 2011. The 215,000 policy count growth over the last 12 months is a 7.5% increase over the policy counts at 2nd quarter 2011.

As indicated in the following Exhibits–compiled by CSG Actuarial analysis using historical UnitedHealthcare financial reports–UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Supplement policy in-force counts continue to grow at a faster rate than previous years.

UnitedHealthcare also remained in 1st place in the Medicare Advantage and Medicare PDP markets, reporting 2.6 million and 4.2 million lives respectively.

But with the acquisition of Care Improvement Plus and XL Health by UHC some things are starting to change. We’re all used to our companies providing the services and support that insurance has promised both us, the producers, and our clients. BUT WHAT IF THE COMPANY PROVIDED THIS TO ALL NEW MEMBERS???

• House Calls- In home visit with physician or nurse practitioner
• PharmAssit- Specialist Pharmacist provide personalized private counseling, Reviews medications, communicates with the members  provider where appropriate, and provides member follow up.
• Social Service Coordinators—Helps determine if member may be eligible for community programs that can assist with medical cost, prescription drugs, energy bills, heating cost, meals and more…
• Nurse Care Management-  24/7 Hot line, patient advocacy, Health care related coaching calls, and care coordination.

Would our clients receive better care? YES

Would our clients take more responsibility in managing their health and chronic conditions? YES

Would we and our clients feel better about the future of health care knowing that FINALLY the health care providers and the insurance companies paying the claims were all working together for a common goal, helping people live better, fuller, healthier lives? YES

Well, that is exactly what is happening as I write this. United Health Care, with the acquisition of care Improvement Plus,  is integrating this system and taking the leading role in; “Changing the Way Health Care is Provided to, and Paid for by Seniors”.

U.S. Medicare Chief Donald Berwick said in 2010;

“Those who wish to preserve status quo are not going to be contributors to our nation’s future. They can’t be effective partners. All of us will have to change the way we do business.”

I wonder… what should we do next???

(This article was written by Philip Warren of Senior Marketing Specialists.)