Citing brisk sales of health plans for seniors, Highmark Inc. is adding Sunday hours at five of its retail outlets.
Stores in Monroeville, North Hills, South Hills, North Fayette and Erie will have Sunday hours Nov. 16, Nov. 23 and Dec. 7. Highmark is seeing one of the busiest enrollment periods in years for senior products, with October sales nearly tripling between 2013 to 2014, the insurer said.
“We get that health insurance is confusing,” Highmark Health Plan President Deborah Rice Johnson said in a prepared statement. “Our stores provide a valuable resource of information and trained staff who can answer questions to make it more understandable for individuals, seniors and small businesses.”
The key driver for much of the increased store traffic is Highmark’s Community Blue Medicare HMO, a new Medicare Advantage product that excludes UPMC doctors and hospitals, Johnson said. Within the past two weeks, St. Clair, Butler Health System, Excela Health and Washington Health System overcame initial objections to become in-network providers in the plan.
Date: November 14, 2014