Benefitfocus says that their new technology transforms the health insurance shopping experience for those consumers pursuing direct direct purchase. Benefitfocus eDirect(TM) enables health insurance carriers to offer individual health plan offerings in new and unique ways while tracking the ROI for specific marketing campaigns. Simultaneously, a Web-based storefront is quickly created which allows consumers to shop, compare and purchase the best health insurance plan for themselves and their family.
Recent analysts’ reports highlight the growing need to reach individuals with health insurance. A Forrester report by analyst Carlton Doty states that “approximately one in ten U.S. consumers purchase health insurance individually.” This is driven in part by the growing uninsured population in the U.S. and a decrease in the level of employer-sponsored insurance, especially among smaller employers.
As early adopters, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City says that the numbers are nothing short of amazing. “The individual market we have captured using Benefitfocus eDirect(TM) represents 18 percent of our total block of business. The norm for this market in the Blue plans is 8 percent,” stated Roger Foreman, EVP of Sales and Chief Marketing Officer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.
“The process to reach individuals from a marketing campaign and/or broker to application submission and underwriting review used to be completely paper driven,” shared Foreman. “With this new automated technology, we’ve not only experienced a rapid growth in the ability to reach the individual market, but a reduction in processing time from over four days to less than twenty-four hours.”
