I was recently chatting with an old friend and our conversation turned to the worry of living 2,000 miles away from aging parents. My friend Jonah and I both grew up in Massachusetts, but now live far across the country. Both of our moms still live in our rural hometowns, and both live alone. At 74, my mom is still an avid walker, an active volunteer for the local food pantry, and has tons of wonderful friends. As a staunch New Englander, she isn’t always receptive to the advice of healthcare professionals, but she is part of a pretty good Medicare Advantage plan. She says it is easy to make appointments, manage prescriptions, and she has a good idea of what her plan benefits are. Besides encouraging her to use her benefits (we are from a ‘rub some dirt in it and you’ll be fine’ culture…) I don’t have to worry about her healthcare too much.
On the other hand, my friend Jonah’s mom at 67, has become more sedentary and a little isolated, especially over the past year. This makes her reticence to address any health issues even more concerning. Further, during Jonah’s Thanksgiving visit home, she casually mentioned that her current health plan was being discontinued, and that she had to sign up for a new Medicare plan– with an open enrollment end-date only a week away.
Jonah has worked for a major commercial health plan and his wife is a pharmacist. They are not only highly educated, but also familiar with the healthcare system. Despite that, he said they spent almost a full, and stressful week trying to figure out what plan and benefits would cover his mom’s basic needs. They found the Medicare information complicated. When they first came across the phrase ‘donut hole’ they were sure it was a joke. And, they got the sense that there were a lot of scams. His mom said there was a woman ‘helping her’ through the process. We now believe she was a broker, but she had a vanity gmail address, offered no clear suggestions or support, and came across as suspicious instead of as a trustworthy professional.
When they began to search for plans online, they were forced to provide contact information before they could access plan details. That led to an overwhelming slew of emails and incessant calls from multiple health plans and brokers. This type of outreach didn’t help them understand the plan offerings or Medicare structure any better, but did add to everyone’s stress. And, within this type of aggressive recruitment, plans with unfamiliar brand names just came across as sketchy. Between constant harassing phone calls and web-page redirects, it’s hard to feel confident that you are sharing personal information and credit card numbers safely, never mind with a company that can be trusted with the health of a loved one!
After a week spent online and stressed-out instead of relaxed and enjoying the holiday, Jonah and his wife did enroll his mom in a plan. They ended up going with a national plan because the brand recognition gave them more peace of mind, and they are fairly sure they enrolled her with the right supplemental coverage options. But, they are also left with the lingering feelings that something may have been overlooked, and that they have overpaid for something that is going to be too complicated for her to even use.
This anecdote has a wealth of insight for MA – and all health plans – looking for ways to recruit and retain members. It also gives smaller regional plans a first hand perspective of how their recruitment tactics might come across to potential members. More broadly, this anecdote is a reminder of the mounting and ongoing life challenges we are all trying to manage. It has been a long year and stress levels are high. The more we can do as individuals and as organizations to simplify information and experiences the better it is for our own health and the health of our families and communities. In this vein, simplification is going to be an even bigger focus at Zipari this year. Improving health and the healthcare experience has never been more critical, and helping to create coherence out of chaos is not just a business tactic, but a missional call.
Wishing us all more calm and less crazy in the coming year.
