WellPoint Supporting Your Family’s Health: The Evolving Role of Health Insurers

Last Wednesday I had the privilege of participating in a WellPoint blogger briefing on supporting your family’s health: The Evolving Role of Health Insurers, which is a near and dear subject to my heart as I have 3 young children who always seem to be sick.

 

Overview:  WellPoint is one of the largest health benefits companies in the nation. The company has affiliated health plans in 14 states that fall under the names Anthem BlueCross and BlueShield, Anthem BlueCross in California, Empire BlueCross BlueShield in New York and BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia.

 

While you may typically think of health insurance within the context of paying the bills, the industry is recognizing that you need more than just that. You need help keeping both you and your family healthy and out of the doctor’s office in the first place. Like never before, plans are tailored to meet your needs with programs, tools and services that work with youto personalize your health care experience and that revolve around your schedule, no one else’s.

 

Along these lines, below are some of the offerings from WellPoint’s affiliated health plans that are leading the way in providing a personalized member experience.  

 

24/7 NurseLine:  When your doctor has gone home but you need quick health answers, this service provides accurate info and 1-on-1 counseling with experienced registered nurses any time of the day or night through a toll-free number.  This team of knowledgeable and caring nurses is there to help you assess symptoms and help you determine whether you should see the doctor, go to the ER or visit an urgent care center. They’re also prepared to answer questions about best practices when it comes to things like immunizations and various public-health issues.

 

For example, you may want to call the NurseLine when:

• Your child has fallen and has lost a tooth. What do you do?
• Your child gets a pea stuck up his nose. Should you remove it yourself, go to your family physician, ER or critical care unit?
• Someone in your child’s classroom has contracted lice. What are theimmediate measures and next steps you should take to ensure they stay healthy?

 

One of the biggest differentiators of the NurseLine program is that members can be directly connected to a nurse. A lot of other programs have an added step in the process; connecting you first to a non-clinical person or even asking you to respond first to pre-taped recordings. But with WellPoint’s affiliated health plans, if you select the prompt to speak to a nurse, you speak with one immediately.

 

Future Moms: Not only does the company help you tackle the day-to-day challenges of being a mom, but it also helps you before you actually take on that role, through its Future Moms maternity program.  This program gives very personalized support to expectant moms, helping them achieve healthier pregnancies and healthier deliveries – which can lead to havinghealthier babies. The program includes risk screening and educationalsupport as well as post-delivery follow-up, which includes screening for depression for those of us who have faced something even more severe than the “Baby Blues.”  It also helps provide you with the information and tips you need as a new parent to care for your child throughout the first year. Depending on whether you purchased your benefits yourself or receive them through your employer, you may need to enroll in this program. Simply call the number on your insurance card to check on eligibility and if you need to enroll.

 

Personalizing Your Health:  Knowing that moms have little time in their day to focus on just themselves, WellPoint and its affiliated health plans have provided a health and wellness portal that you can customize to your needs.  The portal lets you – and other family members (yes, Dads too!) – develop a personalized health plan and includes email reminders and prompts for you to do the things you need to do – like scheduling check-ups and working out.  It also contains a live-chat feature as well as access to a health coach for support with health resources, and even services as specific as providing suggestions for quick and healthy recipes.  Fitness devices are also available to help measure your steps, activity and even your sleep!  These options are available not just though the workplace, but also as a part of personal plans such as consumer directed plans as well as in several states, including Connecticut, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, Maine and Virginia.  The company is also working to introduce a similar portal for all of its members in the future.

 

Fitness to Fit Your Lifestyle: Being a mom often times means putting your family’s needs before your own, leaving very little time to work on your personal fitness goals.  Understanding this, WellPoint and its affiliated health plans have partnered with FitOrbit to offer convenient and affordable ways for you to achieve your personal fitness goals. FitOrbit is available to anyone who wishes to sign up on the Fitorbit.com site. However, the company plans to incorporate FitOrbit into some of itsproducts for employers, as well as offer it at a discounted rate to members in the future.  FitOrbit provides:

• Unlimited access to a real personal trainer who, unlike trainers at the gym, is available to you around the clock.
• Customized, family friendly meal plan including recipes and even a grocery list!
• Detailed, personalized fitness plan that you can do anywhere, anytime. Whether it’s doing lunges at the playground while you push your child on the swing or doing squats while folding laundry, your personal trainer can help you find moments during the day when you can easily add an exercise!

 Conclusion:  As a health insurer, it is WellPoint’s goal to support your efforts to keep both you and your family healthy. To that end, the company is happy to offer a special discount toFitOrbit, which can be accessed through this link:http://www.fitorbit.com/ib/MOMSAVES25.

 

My take:  All I have to say was that I was so impressed with all the different options that really are geared towards a personalized health plan.  Dr. Ellen Silver stated it best when she told us that WellPoint is more than just  paying the bills.  I love that there is a 24/7 Nurse line available because it never fails that an accident happens just after the pediatrician or after hours clinic closes.  Eileen Meehan talked about the Health and Wellness portal that is available.  The great points I took from that section is that there is a live chat option available 24/7 to help guide you along your way.  Great healthy recipes are found on the portal as well and the live chat will even help you narrow down your choices depending on what food you have available to cook for that day.   Last but not least Lia spoke for  Fit Orbit, which is a great way to have a personalized fitness plan for $10 a week.  My favorite tip I took from her, a playground workout:

• 3 sets of 10 triceps dips on park bench
• 3 sets of 10 swing squats
• 3 sets of 10 incline push-ups on park slide
• 3 sets of 10 ballet leg lifts.

Pretty easy to do when you are playing with your kids, right?  In summary, WellPoint is preventive health-focused which is refreshing change when you think about it.  Why not focus on keeping people healthy which in the long run decreases a person’s chance for illness.  So please take a minute and visit WellPoint to see what great options they have for your family.

The Motherhood and WellPoint provided the above information and I am being compensated to participate in the briefing/discussion and to share what I have learned.  My views are solely my own opinions.

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