Do we need health insurance shops?

In the USA, Highmark recently announced that it will open four additional Highmark Direct retail health insurance stores in Pennsylvania, including three stores in the Pittsburgh area and one store in Harrisburg.

Highmark is the only health insurer to operate retail stores in Pennsylvania. The company opened its first Highmark Direct stores in March 2009 in Pittsburgh's McKnight Seibert Shopping Center and in Mechanicsburg's Silver Spring Square. During the first year of operation, the stores had more than 20,000 visitors and provided health insurance to thousands of individuals and their families.

Kenneth R. Melani of Highmark says, "When we opened our first two stores last year, our goal was to provide Pennsylvanians with access to the information they need to make informed decisions about health insurance. The stores have exceeded our expectations during the first year of operation. By opening four new facilities, our Highmark Direct stores will reach many more people in our community."

Steven Nelson at Highmark adds, "As consumers become more involved in buying health insurance, we want to help them better understand their options. We have heard from customers that they want one-on-one support. The stores have helped them to better understand what they are purchasing and make more informed decisions about their health. The Highmark Direct stores represent an important community resource for consumers as more and more individuals will be responsible for purchasing health insurance on their own.”

Highmark Direct offers consumers in Highmark's service area the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a health insurance specialist to discuss their health insurance options and their benefits as a Highmark member. The stores sell health insurance plans to individuals, seniors and small businesses. iDental, a dental insurance product of United Concordia Dental, a Highmark subsidiary, was recently launched in the store and is designed to cover routine dental care.

As one of the leading health insurers in Pennsylvania, Highmark's mission is to provide access to affordable, quality health care enabling individuals to live longer, healthier lives. Based in Pittsburgh, Highmark serves 4.8 million people through the company's health care benefits business. Highmark contributes millions of dollars to help keep quality health care programs affordable and to support community-based programs that work to improve people's health. Highmark exerts an enormous economic impact throughout Pennsylvania. The company provides the resources to give its members a greater hand in their health.

Have we have all become so used to online and phone contact, that we forget that sometimes consumers want face to face help.

Before dismissing the concept, consider that several non-health specialist national intermediaries and insurer NFU Mutual, have all proved that even the same consumer, sometimes wants help by phone, sometimes wants to work on their own online and sometimes wants to talk to someone in person. Many insurers who closed their own branch network were very sniffy about NFU keeping open many branches round the country, claiming them as old-fashioned. But NFU’s multi-contact model works, and the mantra that people only now want to deal online, disproved.

So, who is going to open a health insurance shop?

Health insurance: Hot topic: April 2010