Anthem Blue Cross of California - 30% rate increase

[Dave020]

I should specify this is the individual & family plan portfolio, not the group portfolio.

 

[OneMorePolicy]

To cover all bases, BC might as well start offering a 5000A, 5000B, 5000C, 5000D .......till infinity, 5000Family of Plans. First plan would cost say $5 monthly premium, then next plan $6, then $7, ..... till infinity. If a plan get utilized too much, close off new enrollments. That way we can stay one step ahead of the clients.

 

[OneMorePolicy]

An interesting item related to this...

The HSA Non Maternity Lumenos plans on the Plan Finder on Agent Connect sites (and BCC site) will in most cases show something like the following:

HSA NM 1500 $212
HSA NM 3000 $172
HSA NM 3500 $155
HSA NM 5000 $194

Now you have to ask yourself (believe me, people comparing online will ask you) why the HSA NM 5000 plan, with highest deductible and duplicate benefits costs more than the 3000 or 3500? It's counter-intuitive.

Apparently, the previous pricing drove large numbers of people into the 5000 plan and, because of heavier than predicted utilization of preventative benefits in that plan, it had to be re-priced to reduce the attractiveness of the plan.

And just when you think you understand health insurance....

I view this new pricing as a major credibility-killer for a new agent like me. Trying to establish myself as "knowledgeable and reasonable" to a client but now having to explain that choosing a higher deductible doesn't mean lower premium. Well, guess I'll need proper training to adjust to these changing times.......

 

[Dave020]

As Fitzy says on youtube "boy this humble pie sure tastes like sh**"

I was givinig the Plan Finder a good going over yesterday to see about some bugs I found and here is one thing that blew right by me......

When you quote NM HSA, the 3500 in that quote from the drop down box is NOT Lumenos, it is that old PPO 3500 plan. When you go back and do rates again without using that plan, they line up pretty well as would be expected. It's the pricing on the 3500 that skews the numbers.

Now, I asked that they either move that plan (it is the danged default option on the list!!) or at least put something on there that says it is a non-Lumenos plan. We'll see if it ever gets changed.

So, basically right now if you send a prospect to the PF to run comparison and quote, the first plan they see is not the Lumenos, so they are gonna call/e-mail and ask both about the odd pricing and why does it say on the default option that preventative care is after deductible when you told me it was before deductible. Ugh!

Also, and this eats my shorts, when they brought in whatever "agents" were involved in the design (I know I wasn't invited), these rocket scientists decided that it would "simplify" the process to eliminate the Lumenos brand name from the Plan Finder.

So, not only do your prospects not know which plans are the Lumenos plans, but they might be looking at the default option that comes up which is, for some strange reason, a non-Lumenos plan without the great preventative care benefit that freaking sell the Lumenos plans.

Of course, those same rocket scientists didn't see a problem keeping the SmartSense name on that portfolio. Wonder why since there are more letters in that than Lumenos.

 

[OneMorePolicy]

So, basically right now if you send a prospect to the PF to run comparison and quote, the first plan they see is not the Lumenos, so they are gonna call/e-mail and ask both about the odd pricing and why does it say on the default option that preventative care is after deductible when you told me it was before deductible. Ugh!

Also, and this eats my shorts, when they brought in whatever "agents" were involved in the design (I know I wasn't invited), these rocket scientists decided that it would "simplify" the process to eliminate the Lumenos brand name from the Plan Finder.

So, not only do your prospects not know which plans are the Lumenos plans, but they might be looking at the default option that comes up which is, for some strange reason, a non-Lumenos plan without the great preventative care benefit that freaking sell the Lumenos plans.

I truly hope all these inconsistencies isn't a shady way of keeping the Lumenos name out there to keep agents coming back to BC, but then confusing the customer and agents so its not sold as much (bait and switch).

 

[somarco]

Dave -

I went to your site and ran numbers on my demographics (but using your zip).

I am older than your average bear so that may have skewed the numbers a bit.

Here is what I got for the Blue HSA, no maternity. (ages 57,56,20)

$1500 - $570
$3000 - $476
$3500 - $488
$5000 - $431

If I were buying this I would go for the $3000 plan and put $5800 into the HSA. Have no idea why the price goes up for a $3500 deductible but admittedly did not study the plans.

BCBSGA did something screwy like this a few years ago. Lower deductibles on family plans priced lower than higher deductibles. They wrote a bunch of those plans for 6 months before someone in home office figured out they messed it up.

There is no way a higher deductible plan costs more than a lower deductible plan . . . all other things being equal. You can't explain it logically. Just do what I do and say they screwed up in your (clients) favor so ride it as long as you can.

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

I am older than your average bear so that may have skewed the numbers a bit.

His very first client was Methusala.

 

[Dave020]

Did you notice that on the default choice for those non maternity HSA plans it shows the 3500 deductible? While it is technically a plan in the same species, it most definitely is not a Lumenos plan, which means no preventative until after the deductible.

The 3500 prices higher than the 3000 because it is not like the other three which are Lumenos plans. But how would a prospect figure it out???

 

[Dave020]

I truly hope all these inconsistencies isn't a shady way of keeping the Lumenos name out there to keep agents coming back to BC, but then confusing the customer and agents so its not sold as much (bait and switch).

I've got about four request in to Sales Support for thier meeting tomorrow to do something about this. If they can't put the Lumenos branding back on there, at least find some way to differentiate from the non-Lumenos NM HSA so people don't buy the 3500 thinking they are getting a Lumenos plan (which is what I probably told them to get when I sent them to my agent connect site in the first place).

We'll see if anything gets changed.

 

[somarco]

Nope. Didn't look that closely. Clicked over to see all plans after the summary came up.

Sure if I poked around in it I would figure out there were some plan differences. Tried to look at it from a consumers point of view.