Bloom Health - a defined contribution company

Our Bloom Advisor Team receives a wide variety of questions from our members as we help them navigate through a new way of choosing and buying their health insurance. One of the most common questions is, “How much coverage is enough?”

It’s a great – and not easy to answer – question. Defined contribution brings a new choice and empowerment to our customers – but it also reveals how tricky it can be to determine exactly what level will meet your needs today and in the future.

So, how can consumers strike the right balance between ensuring they have the necessary coverage to pay their bills when they are sick, but not so much where they are wasting money on coverage they don’t need?

In a perfect world you’d have just enough coverage to help pay for all of your out-of-pocket medical expenses, both anticipated and unanticipated—this includes everything from routine exams, prescription coverage, and minor illnesses, all the way to emergency-room visits, surgery or disease treatment.  Without knowing what might fall in the “unanticipated costs” category, you might have to make some tough choices.

That’s where Bloom can help.

If you’re a Bloom member, our technology does the work … Read More »

We’re excited to announce our selection for the Apps & Demo Expo portion of the Health Data Initiative (HDI) Forum in Washington, D.C., on June 5-6, 2012.  At the Expo, we will demonstrate our recommendations engine and machine learning approach to health plan selection.

Health Datapalooza is a national conference that brings together startups, product developers and public policy leaders to discuss and present innovation in the growing world of health data. Keynote speakers at this year’s HDI Forum include U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park and Physician and Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist.

In addition to our selection for the Apps & Demo Expo, Bloom CEO, Abir Sen, is a featured panelist in the Business Roundtable discussion alongside other entrepreneurs and national business leaders.

We are excited to feature application demonstrations during the Apps & Demo Expo and answer visitors’ questions about our Defined Contribution Private Exchange solution.

For more information on the HDI Forum, please visit hdiforum.org… Read More »

A friend recently forwarded me a podcast from the radio show, This American Life, about one woman’s drawn out struggle to resolve an error on her phone bill, mistakenly caused by her phone company. Over the course of several frustrating phone calls her bill was finally resolved—after 10 months and negative national media exposure!

This story got me thinking about all the other consumers who have been in this woman’s shoes, and dealt with inadequate customer service. Poor service often isn’t really about customer service representatives who are apathetic toward their customers’ concerns. Instead, I think poor customer service can be attributed to representatives who are apathetic toward the actual company for whom they work.

At Bloom, we know that the more our frontline employees—those who are the first point of contact for our customers—are excited about our company and what we do, the better service they will provide.

Here are a couple of key principles we follow at Bloom Health as we strive to create the best customer service experience in health care:

1. Create a consistent experience across the organization

We don’t limit customer service to one department—we expect great customer service across the company. While we … Read More »

Earlier this year, Rob Lynch from Forbes presented his list of Ten Ways Small Business Can Lower Healthcare Costs in 2012. Bloom was excited to find tip number 8: Offer a narrow network solution to employees.

High-value networks offer a competitive advantage to both employees and employers. By partnering with one or a select few health care networks – like Doctor offices & hospitals – health insurance companies can dramatically reduce the premium costs for these plans. As Rob states, “By offering a smaller range of often less-expensive doctors, you can cut your costs by as much as 25%.”

In 2011, Minnesota-based health plan Medica, introduced My Plan by Medica ^sm, a defined contribution private exchange solution, in partnership with Bloom. My Plan helps employers control rising healthcare costs while providing more choice for their employees.

Medica and Fairview Health Services, one of Minnesota’s largest health care provider systems, recently announced the addition of the first Accountable Care Organization (ACO) to the My Plan private exchange. Called Fairview Health Advantage with Medica ^sm this new ACO is the first of its kind in the region and brings more choice, flexibility and savings to Minnesota employers and their employees.

Bloom … Read More »

Previously on this blog, our CEO Abir Sen wrote about how the Bloom Health private exchange platform could help facilitate insurance purchases on the state-run public exchanges.  Abir made this case, both based on our experiences helping consumers navigate insurance choices, as well as on Bloom’s sophisticated technology platform that connects the consumer to the product that best meets his or her needs.

Last week the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed our thinking, with the release of the final exchange regulation, which allows for third-party entities, like Bloom Health, to support consumers’ as they navigate the plethora of choices on these public exchanges.

This is great news for consumers.

Public exchanges will bring a whole new world in the purchasing of health insurance and ancillary benefits.  There will be confusion and uncertainty.  Even the state governments tasked with running these exchanges will be learning on the job.  Too much is riding on the success of the public exchanges, and I applaud HHS for recognizing that companies with proven success in helping people select and purchase benefits on an exchange platform will provide invaluable assistance and expertise.

Whether our customers are purchasing insurance from an employer-sponsored exchange or from … Read More »

I read an interesting Fast Company article the other day about how companies are increasingly focusing on the ways a strong corporate culture can create winning results. It’s a concept that has sparked a lot of talk, with many people arguing that strategy will always trump culture when it comes to prioritizing efforts.

This article really stuck with me because I’m constantly thinking about how our own corporate culture impacts our ability to deliver a unique consumer experience. This is especially important at this moment in time, when the culture of the healthcare industry itself is fundamentally changing: from clearly defined silos to cross-sector collaboration; from autocratic decision-making to consumer engagement and accountability; from complexity to convenience.

At Bloom Health, we are taking a laser-focused approach to changing the culture of healthcare as it relates to employee benefits. Really, we’re changing the entire health benefits ecosystem. This requires a seismic shift in the way employers think about their employees’ healthcare. And if we’re going to do it right, we’d better make sure our own culture is as innovative and creative as the solutions we are bringing to the market.

That’s why I don’t think it’s a question of which is … Read More »

Of all the health reforms underway, none gets more attention than the public insurance exchange. Representing a fundamental shift in the way people compare and purchase health benefits, these public exchanges promise to increase consumer choice and offer a variety of benefit options that meet the needs of a diverse spectrum of consumers.

It’s a good idea, and if designed properly has the potential to make a meaningful impact in health insurance reform.

Interestingly, the private market has been offering these exchanges for the past few years, with good results. Employers like the flexibility and their employees are happy with the level of choice that they get. Our results show employees that are offered an array of options are truly enrolling in a wider spread of plans – no more defaulting to the one size fits all approach.

The question that arises then, is how will these private exchanges interact with the state exchanges, if at all? Will they compete head to head? Or is there another scenario?

Here at Bloom we believe that the private exchanges can coexist with and even complement the state exchanges. To understand how, think about how an individual investor buys shares today. They don’t show … Read More »

The world of healthcare will continue to change in 2012 as a result of health care reform, as some early provisions of the new law start getting adopted.

But one thing will remain the same as in past years: employers will continue to struggle with rising and unsustainable health care costs, and employees will continue to feel the burden.  The LA Times reports that preliminary findings of a survey by national benefit consulting firm Mercer show that, without implementing cost-cutting measures, employers expect their average health benefit costs to rise by 7.1% in 2012.  The survey also concludes that the expenses employees pay out-of-pocket for their benefits will outpace the increase in their earnings.

And while many employers will continue the decades-long struggle to combat rising benefit costs, some are taking a new approach that helps them predict healthcare costs as well as provide workers with greater choice and more personalized benefits.  It’s called defined contribution, and while a number of forward-thinking companies have already waded into the defined contribution pool, I believe that 2012 is the year that employers will fully embrace this emerging health benefits model. I expect an even greater increase in membership for 2013 as … Read More »

Last week The Washington Post and Yahoo! via the Associated Press, provided an update regarding the implementation of one of health care reform’s more popular provisions; more comprehensive summaries of health plan options. A sensible idea with a lot of support, right? But now we learn that the implementation of this provision is in jeopardy.

Health insurance is a complicated topic, no doubt about it. And a quick scan of the comments to the posts confirms the desire from consumers to understand the costs of their coverage. One commenter exclaims, “Oh man, would this be welcome.”

At Bloom, we’re in the business of helping consumers understand the coverage options in front of them so they can make the best decision for their needs. The screenshot featured here is an example of exactly how we present plan details to Bloom members day in and day out.

We’ve found our members to use Bloom’s plan comparison tool to see how one plan will meet their needs over another. In addition to online resources, Bloom members can quickly and easily tap into one of our most valuable resources – the Bloom Advisor Team. With one call, members receive unbiased and friendly consultation about … Read More »

It’s no secret that consumers often have less than positive things to say about their health insurance.

Late last year social media analytics firm Amplicate fielded a survey to see what people were saying online about health insurance, and the survey revealed that 70 percent of all social media mentions of insurers were negative.

“They are impossible to deal with,” one consumer posted online.  Another offered: “Bleed a little slower on your way to the out-of-network hospital.”  Complaints about the frustration of being unable to talk to a knowledgeable customer support representative are pervasive.

It’s not surprising, then, that the Net Promoter Score (NPS)—a widely-accepted metric by which many consumer-oriented companies measure customer satisfaction—for the health insurance industry is -13%.  As in negative 13 percent.

As long as consumers regard insurers as impediments to, rather than enablers of, good health, it will be difficult to leverage the full suite of capabilities health plans offer their members.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We have been offering health insurance through a defined contribution approach since 2010.  And today, our NPS stands at about 17 percentage points above the health insurance industry average.  Across the board, consumers who purchase health … Read More »