Leadership Lessons - Why I Don't Hate Capital Blue Cross

Scenario: Vision Loss, Hospital Visit, Wireless Access in the Hospital (YAY!), Receive E-Mail from Insurance Broker While in Hospital (BOO!), You're Group Insurance is being Dropped (what?!?)...in Two Weeks...(rage, gnashing of teeth).

Health Insurance is a very confusing undertaking if one does not deal with it on a daily basis. When looking at providing health insurance for employees and choosing for oneself, one must consider:

• Which broker to use
• Which company to choose
• Which plan to choose
• Must consider:
• PPO? HMO?
  
• High Deductible? Really High Deductible? Co-Insurance?
• What does the plan cover? Prescriptions? Co-pay?
• Require Referrals from PCP?
• What about HSA, Flex Spending Accounts, HRA?
• Don't forget about HIPAA requirements!

So, not knowing much about the whole thing, you can bet I was terribly eager to get back to work and begin to tackle this beast! I not only had to make sure that my family was covered appropriately, I also had to make sure my employees got good coverage and understood what was happening.

While scrambling about that first week back to work, I finally realized that since we had to go to individual insurance, there is no way to take premiums pre-tax because, as was explained by a kind individual, "that would be forming your own group"... hmm... still not seeing the problem with that. I have some wit and wisdom about this that I'll post with another label.

So, why do I not hate Capital Blue Cross? After all, they gave me less than a month's notice that we were being dropped, which left me on my own to figure out the insurance maze in an extremely short amount of time (I found out that there are no experts in this insurance maze).

I don't hate them for one reason and one reason only...customer service. Every time I call, without exception, the person taking the call is professional, (mostly) knowledgeable, friendly and empathetic. They answer every question I have, patiently explain the plan about which I am inquiring and work with me on figuring what may be the best plan.

Even though their company created a major hassle in my life, the customer service has kept me basically satisfied.

Another factor here may be the rock bottom expectations on my part...like when you go into a movie thinking that it is going to be a bomb, and it's mediocre. "Yay...it didn't make me want to jam my thumbs in my eyes!"