Bloom Health - a defined contribution company

Being an Actuary isn’t quite like being a doctor or policeman; when asked what I do, I usually feel like, “I’m an Actuary” leaves more questions than answers.

So, what does an actuary do? Essentially, traditional actuaries put a price tag on risk and uncertainty. For insurance companies, risk and uncertainty means not knowing the magnitude of their members’ future insurance claims. Prior to working at Bloom, I worked for a health insurance company and performed the more traditional tasks of valuing this risk and uncertainty. Now, working as an actuary at Bloom, my role is taking me in new creative directions.

What do Bloom actuaries do?

• Demonstrate the Bloom Solution: Analysis performed by Bloom actuaries is vital to communicating how our private exchange solution brings value to employers and their employees. Especially important is our financial analysis that models a client’s shift from the defined benefit world to the defined contribution world. The tool Bloom has built allows us to guide clients through the actuarial analysis, which illustrates the financial implications for the employer, shareholders, and employees. Explaining the analysis and benefits is exciting and rewarding—it’s also something most actuaries don’t have the opportunity to experience.

• Help … Read More »

Originally posted and published by Lead Developer at Bloom Health, Kyle Boon on his blog: http://kyleboon.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/global-day-of-code-retreat-minneapolis-edition/

On Saturday (December 8th) I hosted and facilitated Global Day of Code Retreat – Minneapolis. My employer Bloom Health sponsored the event at our office in downtown Minneapolis. We had 16 people come in on a Saturday in the snow during the Holidays for a day of deliberate practice at the craft of software development.  Worldwide there was over 150 cities in 22 timezones and 3,000 people participating.

What is it Code Retreat?

The easiest answer is to direct you to www.coderetreat.org and let you read it there, but I’ll try to explain it in short form. Maxim Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in any field. This happens in sports all the time. College football players spend 20 hours a week practicing with the team plus uncounted hours watching film, lifting weights and practicing as individual. They spend 60 minutes 14 times a year actually playing a real game of football. An individual player probably spends less than half of that time on the field. They’re still amateurs with a lot to learn when they get to … Read More »

Next month will mark my 3-year anniversary at Bloom Health. When I joined, Bloom was a small group of people with a few big ideas about how to revolutionize an entire industry. Today, while some things are different, the same ideas we started with continue to be the ideas that power Bloom.

Our company has seen its share of changes: from new faces in meetings, moving office spaces, to launching brand new products in unfamiliar markets. And as we enter into a new year, we see more changes heading our way.

But we have a way of doing and thinking about things that guides us at each new curve in the road ahead. While our business continues to grow and evolve, the following principles stay immutable:

1. Defined contribution is the future of health benefits

Right from the beginning, Bloom set out to bring a Defined Contribution solution to the healthcare market. The idea of providing employees a lump sum of money to shop for their benefits is playing out to be a very popular and appealing strategy for employers of all sizes. In his Bloomberg News piece from last year, “Defined Contributions Define Health-Care Future,” Peter Orszag bets that … Read More »

Most employees know their salary off the top of their head. Obviously, the number is an important one – and it would be pretty disconcerting to hear during an interview for a new job, “We don’t quite know what the salary is for this position”

In reality, we face this situation in the workplace everyday. When it comes to the concept of something called “Total Compensation” most employees (and employers) are in the dark.

Total compensation is the sum of salary, benefits, “perks” etc. that contribute to the reasons why a person comes to work each day. Some definitions of total compensation even include the emotional benefits of a certain job over another.

When we face the tough fact that employees have hard time even beginning to estimate how much their employer invests in health care alone, we really begin see how little employees understand about their compensation as a whole.

And what is confusing about all of this is that these additional “perks” outside of annualized salary matter so much to employees. In the same study cited above, 64% of employees noted their health benefits as the most important benefit provided by their employer.

So what is most … Read More »

I’ll be the first person to admit that attending conferences and staffing an 8×10 foot booth isn’t typically my ideal way to spend the day. However, this summer I’ve had a chance to attend two health care conferences that gave me a new perspective. I was excited to have the opportunity to hear from a few exceptional speakers and take part in discussions about the future of our health care system.

The first conference was in Washington, D.C., called the Health Data Initiative Forum (otherwise known as Health Datapalooza). Companies of all sizes from across the country came together to show how they are using health data to move health care forward. Even Jon Bon Jovi (yes, that Bon Jovi), was in attendance. His attendance as a featured speaker goes to show that even rock stars are joining in on the health care action. Overall the conference was energizing and it was exciting to see how by leveraging health care data in new ways, we can improve not only our health care system, but people’s lives as well.

The second event I attended was the “Changing Landscape of Healthcare Technologies” panel discussion, which featured our Head of Sales & Market … Read More »

We often talk about our Bloom Advisor Team and the impact they have on our customer experience. We do this because our approach to customer service starts with our Advisors and it plays out in a variety of ways:

First, we recognize the importance of the Advisors in the success of our business. We value their input because it’s often direct feedback from our customers.  Second, when the phone rings, our members are connected to a real-live person.  And while in today’s world that alone is unique, the person they’re connected to – an Advisor – is not just a voice, they’re all knowledgeable, qualified, friendly and prepared to offer the help that is needed.

Finally, for some of our members, their calls with an Advisor might be their only interaction with us. That’s why we invest so much time and energy into perfecting that experience and making sure it never feels like our members have reached that same-old, same-old call center.

We’re excited to share this video that we think showcases just that: Bloom’s dedication to reshaping the way consumers shop for healthcare. Enjoy!

Our Bloom Advisor Team… Read More »

Recently, there has been news of insurance companies partnering with large retail chains to sell health insurance. Case in point: Aetna will soon begin offering individual insurance products in select Costco stores.

This is a sensible strategy for health plans.  Not only do retailers know how to sell directly to consumers, but they also have a direct line of ongoing communication.  Effectively leveraging these strengths through strategic partnerships with retailers will likely be one key to success in the newly-reformed health insurance market beginning in 2014.

We’ll have to wait until stores like Costco provide additional detail about how they will forge partnerships with health insurers before we can fully comment on how useful the approach will be for shoppers.  What we do know for sure today is that there is another way health plans are taking a more consumer-friendly approach to health benefits: defined contribution private insurance exchanges.

Think of the private exchange as a virtual shelf of benefit products.  Consumers can compare, shop and buy the insurance that best suits their needs and that fits their budget defined for them by their employers’ contribution.  And with the help of a personalized decision support tool and expert telephonic … Read More »

Anyone who has worked in a start-up environment knows that the lessons learned are a plenty. You have to be comfortable figuring things out on the fly, without necessarily having adequate information. For me, this reality has resulted in a few lessons learned that has helped me along the way.

1. Question the experts. In my experience, the “experts” rarely know everything that they pretend to know. Besides, by definition the experts are part of the establishment and the status quo, and often have much to lose from a disruptive change. Entrepreneurs would do well to closely examine the advice they get, have a healthy level of skepticism, and not treat expert opinions as established fact.*

2. Grow a thick skin. Entrepreneurs are usually creative people. And creative people often tend to be thin-skinned and sensitive to criticism. I believe it is essential for those starting a new venture to learn to grow a thick skin. Many people will tell you why your product or service will never work, why the big company will easily crush you, why your revenue projections will never be attainable. There are usually hundreds of reasons why one shouldn’t do something, and one really good … Read More »

Coming out of college and transitioning into a first job is not easy for a young professional.  I remember feeling like I should know exactly what my long-term goals were even though I really had no idea.

However, finding the right work environment can make all the difference in the world. I am lucky to be in an environment at Bloom that recognizes the value of gaining different experiences. Within the last year and a half, I have worked in three different departmental areas. This variety has quickly taught me that regardless of your long-term goals, succeeding in a high-performance environment requires three key ingredients:

Be agile.

This is a software development term, but also has implications for how individuals in a fast-paced environment should work. Bloom, the company where I work, is a growing startup that is on the cutting edge of health reform. Therefore, for each of us at Bloom, it is essential that we constantly adjust to the realities of the market. We not only need to build a product from scratch, but also refine it as we go along by listening to our stakeholders – our customers, our investors, our employees, the regulators and so on. … Read More »

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 »