Dive Brief:
- Given the confusion around HealthCare.gov, which resulted in millions of policies being incomplete, health plans have decided to give consumers with incomplete policies a chance to get started using their policies will.
- in an effort to build business and relationships with newly insured patients, some health insurers are letting consumers who are waiting to complete their policies to pay later.
- Meanwhile, drugstore chains like CVS Caremark and Walgreens are providing prescriptions at "no upfront cost." Experts say these pharmacies believe that they will benefit by connecting with consumers now, before their loyalties have been cemented elsewhere.
Dive Insight:
It's rare to see health plans and pharmacy chains be agile enough to respond to quick changes in the market -- and that's no surprise, given their of necessity massive bureaucracy to manage. But in this case, at least, it's intriguing to see them do something one would never anticipate they'd do, i.e. extend credit to a group of people with ability to pay is limited at best. Despite all the complaining, health plans must see in enormous upside to getting new health reform clients. Over the next year or so, we'll get to see if they're right.