Health Care Reform Will Make Health Insurance more Accessible Online

As the rest of America is waiting for the final passage of the health care reform bill, health insurers are coming up with ways to make their systems faster and cheaper. With cuts to insurers and 30 million new possible leads, insurers are going to have to find ways to maintain the new load and make the purchasing phase easier. In a recent article, the Chief Executive of AHIP Karen Ignagni, suggested: “Making sure [insurance companies] have the capacity for online sales and knowing how to present a product to consumers.”

Many insurance agents already use online tools to help accelerate processing consumers. It is obvious that agents who having been using these online tools will have an easy transition and a great advantage over agents who have yet to engage these online tools on their websites. Consumers also search for health insurance quotes online. As more people start to look for insurance, all of these online tools will be necessary for consumers to make decisions.

How does the online process work

By using health insurance quote engines, consumers can find cheaper prices and compare policies to make the best decision for them. Customers can opt to not have an agent contact them and can continue the process completely online on certain sites. This is great for consumers who hate hassle and yell at anyone who calls their home.

Consumers can talk to insurance agents online or purchase insurance through an agent’s site. Agents are most knowledgeable about insurance and can provide materials and the perfect policy. Agents typically work with many companies and will pick the company that best fits their client. Use agents wisely! They are there to help you, not take your money and run. Insurance agents try to build lifelong customers so keep that in mind. They have more to offer then just health insurance.

The health insurance market will have to reach new demographics in a short time period, and these new consumers are going to vary greatly in age. Younger adults who just graduated from college and older adults who could not acquire policies will all be required to obtain health insurance. The health insurance market is going to have to reach these groups in a positive way to get lifetime consumers.

How are the health insurance companies responding

Companies like GoHealthInsurance.com have been using social media as a way to reach younger audiences. Social media used to only reach younger populations but recently older populations have become involved in the craze. It is not uncommon to see Grandma’s photographs of when you were a baby on Facebook or her Tweets about the cookies she just made.

Humana has been making efforts to reach younger demographics in crumpleitup.com, an edgy Blue’s Clues version of health care information. However, more efforts by the health insurance industry are necessary to reach these groups of people.

People cannot expect agents to find them but must find the agents. Contacting an agent and researching online are the best ways to understand how the reform will affect your policy and help you find the best policy. Informed buyers are usually the happiest.