Hartford-based insurance giant Aetna is seeking to expand its health insurance business in eastern Massachusetts and is making its presence known with a high-visibility marketing campaign in the heart of Red Sox Nation at Fenway Park.
As the nation’s third largest health insurer, Aetna has invested heavily in price transparency tools to help consumers understand the types of coverage and services available and their costs. The company sees its consumer focus as key to competing against the Boston area’s entrenched insurers.
“About ten years ago we went down the consumer-directed health insurance path,” Aetna New England market president Martha Temple said. “We believe that getting the consumer engaged in the cost of health care will help drive down that cost.”
In a state dominated by a few not-for-profit health insurers, for-profit Aetna currently has about 4 percent of the Massachusetts health insurance market. According to Temple, the company is looking to boost its share to 10 to 15 percent by offering consumers sophisticated price transparency tools that enable them to make informed decisions and choose lower cost options for routine health care services or more expensive, higher quality services for critical care.
“We haven’t seen this type of service really take off as much in the Boston and Massachusetts health care market,” Temple said. “With the cost of health care as high as it is in Massachusetts, this is a good time for us to be making a play and trying to find ways to help keep health care costs down in Massachusetts.”
“We’re obviously very happy to have additional choice and competition in the marketplace,” said David Shore, president of the Massachusetts Association of Health Underwriters. “Aetna offers more of a data-driven relationship with the employer. They have been promoting price transparency around the country for a long time — in doing so they have developed some exceptional tools that engage members in the cost-and-quality conversation, improving their overall health care confidence.”‘
Date: Apr 15, 2014