Memo to a Fictional Health Insurance Company

To: Oscar Health Departments of Marketing and Underwriting

From: Alexa Letizia, Policy Analyst at Oscar Health

Date: October 3^rd, 2024

Subject: A Potential Customer Pool for Oscar Health: Medicaid Disenrollment Victims

Greetings,

I would like to discuss a must-not-miss opportunity for Oscar Health to expand its client pool with the millions of Americans who are now being disenrolled from Medicaid in the “unwinding” process. I believe we can harness this opportunity to grow our company.

The policy that allowed Medicaid participants to be continuously enrolled through the COVID-19 pandemic is ending. Many states are disenrolling those who are no longer eligible. Six months into this process, nearly 9 million have been disenrolled and many are searching for alternative insurance (KFF, 2023). This presents an opportunity for us to customize a policy and market it towards this demographic.

You may already be skeptical that the Medicaid demographic could afford private insurance. However, many people are being disenrolled because their higher income makes them ineligible (KFF, 2023). In this post-pandemic world, people have returned to work and seen a growth in their earnings. Thus, I argue that members of this group will be able to afford a low-cost health insurance plan with or without subsidies.

This is why I would like to introduce my plan for harnessing this potential applicant pool and would love to implement it to bring continued success to Oscar Health. To attract those who lost Medicaid coverage we should first customize a low-cost plan that provides the basic coverage they are seeking. Even if this plan is lower than our typical prices, we will gain more revenue from the greater quantity of enrollees. Additionally, 73% of Medicaid patients are under 45, making them a healthy, low-risk population to insure (Leonard, 2019; KFF, 2024)

Second, efforts to reduce administrative barriers will be key these are a common complaint about Medicaid. We should ensure that our online enrollment platform is easy to use and available in multiple languages. A fast turnaround time from application to commencement of coverage will also be key to ensure people get onto our plans swiftly before other companies can move in.

Additionally, we should continue to provide an excellent customer service experience at Oscar Health; we should ensure that our call centers are well staffed with individuals who can swiftly guide potential enrollees throughout the enrollment process. Finally, we must act now to claim this untapped resource! Oscar Health should begin marketing and partner with communities to reach those who are most impacted by Medicaid disenrollment.

Do not let Oscar Health lose this opportunity to use the Medicaid unwinding process to our advantage! Thank you for your consideration and I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this potential client pool.

References

Leonard, J. (2019). Inside an insurance company: How they work and what drives them. Retrieved October 3, 2024, from https://btlaw.com/en/insights/blogs/policyholder-protection/2019/inside-an-insurance-company

Medicaid enrollees by age. (2024, May 17). KFF. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/medicaid-enrollees-by-age/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel={"colId":"Location","sort":"asc"}

Navigating the unwinding of Medicaid continuous enrollment: A look at enrollee experiences. (2023, November 9). KFF. https://www.kff.org/report-section/navigating-the-unwinding-of-medicaid-continuous-enrollment-a-look-at-enrollee-experiences-report/