Would they really offer free checkups if it weren't mandatory in healthcare reform?
Imagine my surprise when driving down I-80 I noticed a billboard advertising free annual checkups from a health insurance company. They had obviously seen all my tweets and blog post advocating the benefits of healthcare reform and decided to jump on the band wagon. I doubt it.
Of course, if you didn’t know any better, you would think upon glancing at the billboard, “Hey, what a great idea. This company wants my health insurance business so much they are willing to give me free annual exams.” We know the truth. All health insurance plans issued after September 23, 2010 must include preventive office visits at no charge. I have only been tweeting this for the last 4 months.
So what does this say about the health insurance industry’s acceptance of healthcare reform? The cynical side of me says they are taking their lemons and making lemonade. They are leveraging a popular consumer benefit of healthcare reform and flipping it around to their advantage. What better marketing tool than to make people believe you invented the concept of free annual exams.
In the big picture, this is a signal that at least one health insurance carrier believes healthcare reform is here to stay. If that is the case, it is better to get ahead of the curve with marketing. Although, all of the carriers have been implementing the mandatory elements of the ACA and are preparing for the future mandates.
The optimist in me says that the health insurance companies have lovingly embraced healthcare reform and want to shout the good news on billboards. Which is great, but could they just put a little line that says, “Free exams brought to you buy the passage of the ACA.”? Truth in advertising.