Bruce Broussard took over as CEO of Louisville-based Humana on Jan. 1, 2013, exactly one year before major provisions of health care reform were to kick in, including insurance coverage bought on the new state exchanges.
That means Broussard was tasked with deciding whether the insurance giant would play on the exchanges. He decided to play big, submitting plans to sell on 14 state exchanges (including three regions in Tennessee), while some insurers chose to sit out.
“It’s more offensive than defensive,” said Broussard of the strategy at today’s Nashville Health Care Council event. “We look at it as an opportunity for us to learn where health care is going … it’s like [research and development]…we will lose some money, but it’s no different than [research and development].”
Broussard anticipates that there will be “a lot, a lot” of bumps in the road on the administrative side as exchanges rollout, but the individual side of Humana’s business is small, he said, giving the company more flexibility to play on the exchanges than some competitors. (Medicare Advantage is Humana’s largest business segment).
Humana is doing its part to help aid enrollment in exchanges. Today it announced a partnership with the YMCA to help educate consumers on health care reform. Throughout the six-month open enrollment period, Humana will sponsor free public health and wellness and education events at Ys in states where it plans to participate on the exchange, led by Humana employees.
The company is concerned that the open enrollment period for exchanges overlaps with the open enrollment period for Medicare Advantage, and is beginning to run commercials in markets to alleviate that confusion for older members.
Date: Aug 27, 2013