HEALTH-INSURANCE PRODUCTS AND PLAN OPTIONS

Trends in health insurance are discussed, with emphasis on insurers' efforts to offer an array of cost-effective plans tailored to the needs of employers and subscribers. Health-insurance companies, responding to employers' demands to curtail the rising costs of premiums, now offer a variety of insurance products. While indemnity plans, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and preferred-provider organizations (PPOs) remain as the three basic types of plans, insurers are combining these elements in different ways, creating dual- and triple-option plans that consist of indemnity insurance and an HMO, a PPO and an HMO, or other variations. Insurers offering multiple options may effect internal cost savings through shared personnel and administrative expenses. Four factors influence the development and marketing of insurance products: cost and volume of health-care services, adverse selection, competition, and the profit incentive. Many of the insurance products have been developed in response to requests for maximum freedom of choice of provider; as an example, the fastest-growing HMO product in 1989 was the point-of-service HMO, which allows the subscriber to seek care from a provider who is not part of the HMO network. PPOs and exclusive-provider organizations (EPOs) are growing; these are often organized by hospitals or physician networks. Among the new trends in product-line development are 'riders' for specialty services such as vision care and prescription drugs. As competition intensifies, marketing efforts are focusing on previously overlooked groups such as the small employer and certain ethnic communities. Cost and freedom of choice will remain important criteria in the selection of insurance products. To succeed, insurers must offer a broad array of plans, each of which meets consumer expectations as well as budget constraints.