Tealeaf Can Improve Health Insurance Buying Experience
by Colleen Perry
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act created the need for states to develop Health Insurance Marketplace websites for consumers to compare and purchase subsidized health insurance plans. These marketplaces, or health exchanges, are open during each year's annual open enrollment period, creating a large flux of consumers shopping for individual and small business coverage plans. In turn, there was a sudden increase of potential customers visiting state exchange sites and insurance company's sites. 8 million enrolled in the marketplaces during the 2014 enrollement, while 11.7 million were expected to enroll during the 2015 open enrollment. When this peak was first met, both the federal and state marketplaces experienced well-documented difficulties with their technical interfaces, creating widespread customer struggle and financial distress. Many consumers struggled to buy a health insurance plan that they were required by law to have. These issues have continued as health insurance exchanges and companies work to improve the site infrastructure and web experience. Improving the customer experience is a priority for both health exchanges and healthcare insurance companies. Available customer experience analytics and tools, like IBM's Tealeaf Software, can play a critical role in improving the experience on these websites.