Putting on the charm: Insurers try a new tack to sell themselves

Facing the prospect of government reform, health plans' marketing increasingly is aimed at inspiring trust. But experts say slogans aren't enough.

By Emily Berry, AMNews staff. Sept. 22/29, 2008.

Health plans are on a marketing mission. They "want you to know" how to "thrive" by turning to them for "guidance when you need it most" because "it's time to feel better," and their business is "helping people live healthier lives."

The business imperative behind these advertising slogans -- in order, for Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Humana, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare -- is increasingly tied to health plans' own ability to thrive.

Health plan executives and the people who study managed care say that with further government regulation, reform looking likely in the next few years, and the individual market for health insurance gaining importance, insurers must reposition themselves as care managers and providers of medical navigation.

If they fail, the transition to a role of trusted adviser will stall, and health plans could end up as the emperor without clothes, analysts say. Even plan executives are believing that the public and elected officials must feel health plans do something besides make money, or plans will be out of the health system reform process.

"The new way of doing things for insurers depends on engagement," said Humana spokesman Tom Noland. "A consumer will not engage with his or her health plan if he or she doesn't trust the health plan."

David Shore, PhD, associate dean at the Harvard University School of Public Health, in Boston, is founder of the Trust Initiative, which is part of the school's continuing education program. He wrote the 2005 book The Trust Prescription for Healthcare: Building your Reputation with Consumers and edited the 2006 collection of essays, The Trust Crisis in Healthcare. Shore is scheduled to speak to health plans at the annual business forum for America's Health Insurance Plans in November.