Health insurers boost customer service

Folks are confused now about health insurance, and it's going to get more confusing with reform before the tide turns. As a result of the new healthcare-reform law, more insurance carriers are removing jargon out of their communications as they prepare to compete for millions of new customers starting in 2014. That's the year health insurers will be barred from refusing coverage to people with preexisting conditions or charging them exorbitant rates, and the first time individuals will have to carry health insurance or face a financial penalty. With those changes approaching, many insurers are trying to stand apart from their rivals as they offer increasingly similar products. Such changes are driving some health insurers to try to meet people where they are — physically, with retail stores and enhanced phone-based customer service, and virtually, by tracking negative comments online and intervening to help improve people's experiences with their health plans. In three years, health plans will look more uniform as an essential benefits package takes effect in the exchanges; that package will vary mostly by cost-sharing levels as opposed to covered services. Among four types, the bronze plan, for example, may carry a higher deductible in exchange for a lower premium, while consumers who want more protection upfront may find the opposite benefit design in the platinum plan. Source: LA Times
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