Medical Attention – healthcare brands learn to operate in the future.   |  

How, for example, will health insurance companies respond to this brand new reality? There are already concerns being voiced by insurance companies that “a government-run plan could drive private insurers out of business and eventually lead to a single-payer system run by the government” (“Schumer Offers Middle Ground on Healthcare,” May 5, 2009, The New York Times). According to the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, private insurers support aggressive regulation instead of a public plan. Assuming private carriers continue to play a role in health insurance, they may well be entering a competitive marketplace with entirely different rules.

In terms of pure brand awareness, the most recognized brands in health insurance are undoubtedly “Blue Cross” and “Blue Shield.” These two brand names are most often linked together in the minds of consumers.

Blue Cross first came into existence in 1929 as a prepaid hospital plan for Texas teachers. Blue Shield was added later as a plan designed to cover physician care. When Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965, Blue Cross was the primary processor of claims—another reason the brand has continued to have such a high profile.

Today Blue Cross Blue Shield remains the oldest, largest family of health benefits companies, serving about 102 million people, or one of every three Americans. In reality, though, the “Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association” is a federation of 39 independent, community-based and locally-operated companies—so while Blue Cross Blue Shield has a national presence, each company has its own local identity and could potentially be perceived as a different brand, or at least as having different brand attributes.

Moving from one geographic area to another proves the point quite clearly to a Blue Cross Blue Shield member. While the overall branding is the same (for example, use of such terms as “Blue Card” may apply nationally), coverage offered, premiums and specific benefits may change from one locale to another. Typically a member must re-apply for coverage when moving to a new area.

Plan quality isn’t always consistent either. In a November 2008 ranking of the country’s best commercial health plans by U.S. News magazine, only two Blue Cross Blue Shield plans were ranked in the top ten (#7-Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut and #9-Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts). The top three best commercial plans, by the way, have names associated with universities: Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Tufts Associated Health and Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare of New England. (The last organization mentioned is an affiliate of the first one.)

One could argue that second only to Blue Cross and Blue Shield in health insurance brand awareness is the government’s own program, Medicare. Medicare is health insurance for anyone in the United States age 65 or older, or under age 65 with certain disabilities. While it is not technically a brand, Medicare has the awareness associated with a major healthcare brand.

Private insurance companies such as Aetna, CIGNA, Humana, Kaiser and United have developed awareness in the healthcare market largely because of the number of employees they serve through company health insurance plans. Arguably, however, the best-known company in the health insurance business other than Blue Cross Blue Shield is Aflac—and it’s all because of a duck. Aflac (which stands for American Family Life Assurance Company) doesn’t offer traditional health insurance plans—it provides supplemental insurance primarily designed to cover individuals who are hurt and miss work.

At the tail end of 1999, Aflac introduced the Aflac duck as its spokes-animal. All kinds of duck-related advertising, promotion and publicity ensued. Aflac’s brand awareness skyrocketed as a result. The duck continues to drive the brand, even to the extent that its likeness has now been built into the company’s logo.

A growing brand phenomenon has been the advent of group health insurance plans that generate more awareness for the group than for the insurance provider. For example, AARP, the largest national membership and lobbying organization for people 50 and over, has a wide range of AARP-branded health insurance products, including AARP Essential Health Insurance, AARP MedicareComplete, AARP Dental Insurance and AARP Prescription Discount Program. According to the organization, “AARP contracts with insurers to make coverage available to AARP members. Insurers and providers pay a fee to AARP and its affiliate for use of the AARP trademark and other services.” This brand strategy banks on the fact that members may prefer health insurance plans because of their affinity with the AARP brand—demonstrating the power of an implied endorsement.

Hospitals will be affected by healthcare reform as well. Hospitals already serve the 46 million people in the United States who are uninsured—but if these people had insurance, hospitals would stand to gain financially. While hospitals are generally viewed as local resources, some nationally renowned specialty hospitals compete for patients. These institutions may need to make their brands more visible in the future.

In cancer care, for example, the top five hospitals, according to a ranking by U.S. News magazine, are in five different states: (1) M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Houston, TX; (2) Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; (3) Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD; (4) Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; and (5) Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA. Each of these hospitals has been known to do branding outreach on a national level through promotional and fundraising campaigns. A third major business area impacted by healthcare reform will be the pharmaceutical companies. These companies already heavily advertise drug brands directly to the consumer in an effort to influence consumer demand for prescription drugs during doctor visits. The number of over-the-counter brands is also increasing, as drugs previously available only by prescription enter the mainstream.

Pharmaceutical companies could be affected by a push toward less expensive generic drugs as well as potential price regulation of brand name drugs. They could even see new restrictions with regard to pharmaceutical advertising.

Obviously the pharmaceutical industry has a large stake in healthcare reform, and companies are collectively trying to play a proactive role. PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, recently released its “Platform for a Healthy America” to advance the healthcare reform dialogue. In the platform, PhRMA states, “medicines are the least well insured, and account for a far larger share of patients’ out-of-pocket costs than medicines’ share of total health spending.” PhRMA lobbies for reducing co-pays for brand and generic medicines “in order to achieve savings on overall health costs and improve productivity by encouraging patients with chronic illnesses to take their medicines as prescribed.”

Depending on the direction healthcare reform takes, existing brands may get a facelift, and new brands could emerge. Maybe they will be new kinds of clinics and treatment centers, such as the CVS “MinuteClinic,” walk-in urgent care clinics operated in 24 states by the drug store chain.

One thing is certain: With healthcare reform, change will come. And that could spell healthy new opportunities for brands that serve the healthcare market.

New Opportunities for Healthcare Brands
by Barry Silverstein

Source: http://www.brandchannel.com/start.asp?fa_id=480