Managed Care - July 2008 - (Page 46) Bring ‘Young Invincibles’ Into the System Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield bets that focusing on this portion of the individual market might be a good way to build brand loyalty By Frank Diamond Managing Editor ealth plans for several years have been concentrating on individual members as a way to please their primary customers, employers. Some plans are now beginning to feel that focusing on individuals might be a savvy market strategy in and of itself. Take the so-called “young invincibles,” people 19 to 29 without insurance. The health insurance system, both private and pubic, makes it difficult for this group to secure benefits. As the nickname indicates, there’s a mind-set involved as well. Many young invincibles think they will never get sick or have accidents. They don’t expect to die, either. Yet because this age group tends to be healthier than others, eventually luring it into the employersponsored insurance pool would drive down overall costs. That’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be ignored, says Merrill Matthews, PhD, CEO of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance. “Most of the insurers perceive the employer-based system as sort of a shuffling of chairs. I’m an insurance company and I’ve got this new small company over here, but we lost a small company over there. It’s sort of small companies shifting from one plan to another plan. Insurers don’t see that as a huge growing market. They do see the individual market as a huge growing market.” in emergency departments. Hospitals bear that burden, but not alone, says Zirkelbach. “They have to make sure their books balance, so that cost usually gets put back into the system to the insurers.” There were 13.7 million uninsured people 19 to 29 in 2006, according to the Commonwealth Fund study “Rite of Passage: Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help, 2008 Update.” “Often dropped from their parents’ policies or from public insurance programs at age 19 or on graduation day, they are left to find insurance on their own while making the often uneasy transition from high school to college or the working world,” the study states. “Yet the jobs available to young adults are typically low-wage or temporary — the type of jobs that generally do not come with health benefits. Young adults who are able to go to college full time may have some protection through their parents’ insurance policies, but upon graduation usually lose their eligibility for family coverage.” The study lists reasons why getting coverage for young adults is important. They involve health concerns such as the fact that 3.5 million pregnancies a year occur among women 19 to 29, and that more than 20,000 people with congenital heart disease reach their nineteenth birthday each year. H Emergency care Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, contemplates the here and now, what it costs to care for uninsured young adults. “This is an issue that our board of directors has taken a very close look at. It costs $50 billion a year to provide care for uninsured Americans.” Much of the care given to the uninsured happens Branded Health plans might find another reason: building brand loyalty. That was one of the motivations behind Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield’s launching of its Tonik program in 2004. “It is our hope that today’s 19-year-old will look to another Anthem product with more robust coverage when he is older or when the time comes,” says Susan Ward, the company’s vice president for product development. “We’re looking to making their experience very positive so that they want to stay and they start building those long-term rela- 46 MANAGED CARE / JULY 2008
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