Discussion

discGreat post. At my previous job my responsibility was to educate the callers about the Affordable Care Act, and to enroll them into a variety of managed health care plans of their choice. Health plans were categorized into catastrophic, bronze, silver and platinum plans. Plan categories respectively cover 60%, 70%, 80%, and 90% of the average cost of health care. The Bronze category consisted of mostly all HMO plans. These plans had low monthly premiums and extremely high deductibles. Unless the consumer was eligible for an advanced premium tax credit, they would have to pay for the plan regular price. Consumers who were eligible for a cost sharing reduction (lower monthly premiums and low deductibles) experienced more savings when they enrolled in silver plans. Silver, Gold and Platinum plans consisted of more PPO and EPO plans. Also, these particular plans provided more health coverage compared to bronze plans.

Just like most other health insurance companies during open enrollment, United Health Care advertises on television to Medicare recipients who are looking for a Medicare Advantage part C plan with a low monthly premium. In a commercial that was viewed, the company claimed to offer even lower monthly premiums to seniors with lower deductibles, and apparently the plan that United Health Care was offering competed with other plans being offered by other health insurance companies. I recall my grandmother, going to an information session in her community that United Health Care held back in October, and she left with small gifts which included a fancy pen and a notepad which had big bold print of the United Health Care name. One could say that one of their marketing strategy was to offer gifts so that the potential consumers would consider enrolling into one of their plans.

Health insurance companies have to go through a planning process when considering a marketing plan. First the company should make an assessment of their business plan. Next the...