Nearly Half of Surveyed Health Insurance Members Would Switch Providers Because of Communications Issues

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Jan. 22, 2019 – Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), a global fintech and customer communications leader, today announced the results of a new national study conducted in conjunction with The Center for Generational Kinetics uncovering trends in health insurance communications and customer experience preferences among Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Based on responses from 1,000 U.S. residents with health insurance, the survey found that while a strong majority of Americans are satisfied with their current health insurance provider, almost half would switch insurers if they experienced issues related to their communications, such as bills and statements.

Broadridge’s research is the latest in its effort to help clients better understand consumers and gain insight into customer communication preferences. Helping clients across industries, including healthcare, better align with consumer behaviour will transform and accelerate the pace of digital adoption.

The research showed that when choosing an insurance policy, an overwhelming majority (94 percent) of respondents consider the convenience and quality of communications to be important factors; and one-third even say that these aspects are critical. Millennials are the least satisfied (55 percent) by the content and quality of their health insurer’s communication as compared to other generations.

“The Affordable Care Act has created a competitive landscape for insurers, and as this study shows, insurers have a tremendous opportunity to differentiate and excel by communicating and developing messaging that resonates with each generation and increases satisfaction, brand loyalty and trust,” said Jeremy Urbas, vice president of Healthcare Solutions at Broadridge.

Jason Dorsey, president of The Center for Generational Kinetics, commented, “In looking at research like this through a generational lens, we unveil how important it is for health insurers to provide a balanced experience of digital and print communications in order to be best positioned to respond to shifting member preferences and satisfy members. This is especially important as some Millennials are transitioning from their parents’ insurance policies and entering the health insurance market as individual consumers.”

Strong Preference for Print and Digital

Transitioning members from print to digital communications offers insurers cost savings when it comes to paper and postage, but insurers need to carefully consider customer preferences when looking to make the change. In fact, some respondents (15 percent) are fiercely loyal to print and indicated they would pay a fee for continued print communications.

When asked to match the information received with their preferred delivery channel, members favor print mail for high-priority personalized documents such as explanation of benefits (EOBs) (42 percent) and health insurance premium bills (39 percent). Emails, on the other hand, are preferred for individualized information about new/lower cost medications specific to the member’s family, the member’s coverage/services and the member’s family’s health conditions. An insurer’s website is largely seen as a convenient resource for provider information and healthy living information/tips, as well as a portal to access detailed claims information and benefit booklets.

Personal Cloud Channels

In addition to accessing documents via their insurer’s website, a member’s personal cloud storage provider, such as Google Drive and Evernote, could offer the next generation of document storage for healthcare communications. One in four Americans are interested in receiving and maintaining health insurance communications via personal cloud storage channels and this number notably increases to 38 percent for Millennials.

Millennials expect insurers will keep and make digital records accessible, as they are the least likely to rely on print copies for record keeping – 36 percent versus 60 percent of Boomers. They are not only the most reliant upon an insurer’s website for this information, but they are also the most likely to receive digital copies.

“Converting members to digital and cloud-driven communications, especially younger generations, has long-term benefits for insurers and members. With data and analytics, insurers can also personalize the experience for members beyond what was previously imaginable,” concluded Urbas.  

Websites Can Offer More Billing and Paperless Opportunities   

Digital channels offer opportunities to optimize billing as thirty-nine percent of those surveyed indicated a desire to use an online portal, either their insurer’s website/app (21 percent) or their bank’s website/app (18 percent), to pay their monthly health insurance premium. Furthermore, a majority (62 percent) of Millennials indicated that website improvements, such as a billing portal for premiums, would make them more likely to adopt paperless communications.

Broadridge provides communications, technology, data and analytics solutions. Broadridge helps clients drive business transformation and enrich client engagement, optimize efficiency and generate revenue growth and reaches 80 percent of North American mailboxes with essential communications on behalf of more than 5,000 brands.

For more information about how Broadridge supports healthcare customer communications, please visit www.broadridge.com/healthcare.

Methodology

Broadridge Customer Communications Solutions commissioned The Center for Generational Kinetics to conduct the survey on its behalf. The 25-question survey was administered between September 5, 2018, and September 13, 2018 to 1,000 U.S. respondents with health insurance ages 23 to 72. The sample was weighted to current U.S. Census data for age, gender and region. The figures are statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.