Health Insurance Companies Need To Pay Attention To Service

A recent study showed that Healthcare Benefit providers were scored as the industry with the worst satisfaction record for the third straight year. Average satisfaction scores were a mere 51%, the same as the previous year.

You can find a summary of the report and the individual companies surveyed in the link http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/customer_experience_index_2010_health_insurance_plans/q/id/56386/t/2

My response to the survey follows.

My View

In the financial benefits industry, I used to tell my troops:

“When customers feel good about your service, they will engage more. When they engage more, they make better decisions. When they make better decisions, they will have more money at retirement. So by providing excellent service on each phonecall, people will have a better retirement.”

But also: “when people have more money in their accounts, our company also makes more money.” So there are only winners!

The healthcare industry needs to understand that providing good service leads to more engaged people. This leads to healthier choices. This leads to fewer future claims. This leads to more profits.

If the providers of health insurance do not get this dynamic, they will never see the sense in providing good service.

The Opportunity

There is no larger challenge that to turn the customer experience in the healthcare industry to the positive. There are no winners here, but the industry is begging some firm to step out and set a standard.