ALBANY, NY – As the first wave of more than 76 million Baby Boomers become eligible for Medicare, Empire BlueCross wants to meet them where they make their buying decisions: online.
The Albany, N.Y.-based Blue recently launched an online store featuring its Medicare Advantage insurance plans. According to Krista Bowers, senior vice president of Empire’s senior division, the decision to launch the online store was based on information that boomers are more comfortable than their predecessors in going online.
"We know an increasing number of Baby Boomers are searching the Internet for information as well as for goods and services," she said. "It was our goal to create an online experience with healthcare that mirrors what they might see at retail shopping sites."
The store, found at www.empireblue.com/shop, has two paths.
A “quick quote” area is designed for users who have done their research into which plan makes the most sense for them and are ready to buy. Those seniors enter a few bits of information about themselves and instantly get information on a number of different Medicare products offered by the company.
For those just starting the process of shopping for a Medicare program, the Web site also offers a “Help Me Choose” button. There, people are given a tour of the various plans offered by Empire.
The online store processes information provided by users to produce a list of Medicare plans that best match their personal preferences. Users can save their preferences in case they return to the site.
"Medicare can be a very complicated topic. We wanted to simplify it,” said Mark Wagar, president and CEO of Empire. “The best thing about an online experience is visitors can spend as much time as they'd like learning about our Medicare products."
Both paths in the online store feature a variety of tools, including:
- A tool that allows visitors to enter their prescription drugs, including quantity and frequency, and get a personalized report on which plans cover their drugs. This tool also suggests lower-cost drug alternatives.
- A tool allowing visitors to see which plan networks include their providers.
- A sliding scale tool that users can use to see the tradeoffs between premiums and benefits.
Empire officials said they will refine the functionality of the online store as needed, based on user feedback.
