Softheon’s 2019 Open Enrollment period has been one of the most successful to date. Before November 1, we made significant updates to our processes, including increasing the throughput of enrollment records and reducing manual work. These updates resulted in faster turnaround for consumers. Now that Open Enrollment is over, all issuers should be focusing on membership retention. This is especially important considering the individual mandate, which required individuals to obtain health insurance or face tax penalties, is no longer applicable. Conducting outreach to members will help but, what else can an issuer do to increase the retention?
Enticing members with incentives could help retain membership because members have a smaller chance of being terminated. Taking inspiration from auto insurers that offer incentives for safe driving, why not apply similar concepts to medical insurance? These incentives could be for joining a fitness center, participating in a survey to improve the application process, enrolling in autopay or paperless invoices.
In 2018, Softheon discovered that members with both autopay and incentives had a very minimal chance of getting terminated, as low as 1.6%. Incentives could also be provided for completing tasks on a personalized health roadmap. An example of personalized health roadmap could be weight management by completing predetermined number of steps every month.
Softheon’s enrollment data shows the termination rate is 8% higher for members who enrolled without a broker or agency. This could be attributed to the fact that broker commissions are typically structured around active members. For brokers, there is an incentive to remind members to make premium payment in a timely manner. Members who enrolled with a broker saw an 11% chance of termination but, without the use of a broker, members saw an increased chance of 19%. To combat the increased risk of termination, issuers should target their outreach to members who enrolled without brokers and they should also send these members reminders for monthly premium payments.
Softheon can support incentive programs involving a percentage of member premiums or a flat dollar amount. Please reach out to your Client Success Manager if you would like Softheon to enable incentives for your membership. If you need more information or would like to schedule a demo, feel free to reach out to Hamoon Hadavand, Senior National Account Executive for Softheon at hhadavand@softheon.com.
The views and opinions expressed by the authors on this blog website and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of Softheon. Please direct any questions or comments to research@softheon.com.