Today when I logged onto the Fargo Forum online, I experienced a sickening sense of déjà vu. Just six short months ago, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota was on the front page of the paper for spending excessive amounts of money on a bonus trip for some employees. About a week later, they were on the front page again when they fired their longtime president and CEO Mike Unjehm. Now they are making headlines again with the findings of a financial audit report that was done.
The last time I wrote about Blue Cross Blue Shield, the moral of my blog was that they were experiencing a public relations nightmare and needed assistance quickly. Today, the moral of my blog remains the same, but with different tactics employed!
As a member of the youngest generation that is currently paying for healthcare, the findings of the audit report revealed in today’s paper disgust me. How can they justify spending millions of dollars in bonuses that they received by raising the premiums of those people that can least afford it? How do they justify paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries each year to at least 10 employees while others are thanking their lucky stars that they still have jobs?
Blue Cross Blue Shield needs to invest their money in a damn good public relations campaign. They need to start building trust with their premium payers, especially those like me from the younger generation. I am going to need health insurance for a lot of years yet, and seeing things like this in the newspaper does not make me feel very good about sticking with BCBS.
BCBS needs to use this campaign to address their issues truthfully as well as what they intend on doing to alleviate those issues. These messages need to be sent out via every available source, so that people from every generation have equal opportunity of viewing them. Not only do they need a good media relations department to talk to the media, they also need a department that can wield the tools of social media.
Even though updating the public on the status of the report is probably not on the forefront of their mind, it is a step I feel they should take in the interest of being open and honest. Videos should be sent out through YouTube; a blog should be started where executives correspond with premium payers; and they could livecast any important information using SHOUTcast or Live 365.
With a lot of hard work, I honestly feel that their situation is redeemable. If they make a concerted, public effort to face their wrongdoings and reverse some of their bad decisions, they can remain as my insurance company!
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It is very frustrating and infuriating to see this report. But frankly, the findings do not surprise me in the least. I have a very low opinion of insurance companies, and health insurance is certainly no exception, and definitely no saint.
ReplyDeleteInsurance companies market themselves like they are your closest friend, there for you in any emergency or time of need. They try to make you feel like the insane premiums you have to pay are well worth the cost because you have PEACE OF MIND. Then when it's time to pay a claim, they act like you are some black sheep relative they never heard of and don't really want to know.
I don't foresee any sea changes coming for this industry any time soon.
Insurance reform is a hot topic in the country. It is sad to see a company that is reputable in other states have such a poor reputation in North Dakota not to mention that the leadership of this tarnished company has little concern for its customers.
ReplyDeleteOne leaders fail to see the reality of the situation it is good for concerned citizens to challenge them to be worthy of trust.
I say keep up the good work and keep writing (blogging) and informing those people in your area about the situation. Maybe some well placed input from you and others in the area will force the company to meet ethical standards that other companies and we the customers live by.
If BCBS kept making wrong choices, I know I would not continue to be a paying representative.
ReplyDeleteThat is a little sad that a company as well-known as BCBS needs assistance in such short amount of time. Maybe this is because their wrongdoings are already wearing off on people and nobody wants to pay a company for heath insurance if their money is not being used properly.
I think you should defnitely keep blogging about a topic such as this and keep letting people know.