Beware the Benefits Blind Spot

In the most recent election the one thing we learned was that the media, and probably most Americans, had a blind spot. For some reason, they did not want to see or hear what many Americans were thinking. And maybe, for some reason, people did not want to say what they were thinking, until that is, when they went to vote. Now this is not a political discussion as I am sure many are tired of political debates by now. But this does remind me of an article I wrote this spring titled, “Two health care stories – Which do you believe?”, that is worth bringing up again. In the article, I wrote about two stories being told about how to solve the health care problem in America. The problem is the noise created by one side was drowning out the other, creating a benefits blind spot.

Now that Trump has won the election the articles and chatter about how Trump is going to reform healthcare is growing at a rapid pace. The noise is getting loud again. Yet, as I read some of the articles, blogs, and chat going on, I am sensing that the benefits blind spot still exists. It may be getting even worse now that the Hillary plan of a public option appears to be in the rearview mirror. Having such a blind spot, when running a business, or when running for President, can have negative consequences.

I don’t recall where I read it but I once read that one of the keys to marketing and messaging is to try to say what the buyer is thinking. And buyers don’t always tell you what they are thinking, even when you ask. So, you need to try to understand the buyer. To do this you need to ask and answer some tough questions, as if you were in their shoes.

What do employers want? Do they want to be worrying about whether they just hired a person who has a wife at home pregnant with triplets? Do they want to be telling their employees their costs are going up again every year? When I spoke at a conference about Private Exchanges I asked some employers why they would be interested in a Private Exchange. You know what the answer was. They thought a Private Exchange would get them out of the health insurance risk business. It was an out for them, at least they thought so.

What do employees want? Or maybe we should be asking, what do consumers want?What is more important for most people, broader access or lower costs? Do they want portable insurance? Do they want penalties for not participating in a wellness program? Do they want national healthcare?

When you think back on the Presidential campaign there were signs everywhere of a potential Trump victory. Trump rallies were like sold-out rock concerts. When I was in Florida on Election Day I mentioned to my wife about how many Trump signs we saw and how few Hillary ones there were. The Trump campaign apparently saw things most didn’t. In the final days, he was campaigning in states like Michigan where most people thought he was going to lose. Maybe the signs were there but people either did not want to see them or were simply not looking. It appears Trump was delivering a message many people wanted to hear.

This may be happening in the healthcare market right now. It is not just ObamaCare that is broken. ObamaCare could be an unintentional distraction that may be creating a blind spot as to what is going on. There may be a silent majority that wants a different type of healthcare system. And they won’t tell their broker or insurance carrier because in their eyes you may be part of the “establishment”. And the establishment often does not want change.

To prepare your business for the future one needs to understand what the future will look like. To do so will require that you eliminate the blind spots. I have shared my personal views about where I think the market is going several times in the past. The Trump election has changed it a little but I too have to be careful so that I don’t bias my own views. If the healthcare market goes to where I think it is going I believe there are big opportunities for those that provide value in the new market. But what about those that don’t change. Well, it was Barack Obama that said clearly, “Elections have consequences.”