Director, Government Programs Management, Medicare
Building Medicare plans that offer valuable benefits for our members is Sara Hower’s goal. At Blue Cross, she oversees the development of Medicare products to bring you the #1 choice for Medicare in Minnesota1. The benefits included in your plan are carefully designed to be meaningful, so members can live their healthiest life.
thrive.: What are a couple ways you learn what Blue Cross members want and need in their Medicare plans?
Sara Hower: We review member feedback from our service department and from our agents. This helps us know what members look for when they shop for a plan and how to make our plans easier to use.
thrive.: So when a member speaks with Blue Cross, that conversation helps to improve our plans?
Hower: Yes — we really appreciate member feedback because we want to offer the best benefits to our members. One of our company values is to put the customer first, and we do that when we build out the coming year’s healthcare plans.
thrive.: Blue Cross is Minnesota’s #1 health plan2. Why do you think that is?
Hower: I think part of that is because we’re local. Most Blue Cross associates live and work here in Minnesota. We are committed to the mission of inspiring change and improving health through volunteerism.
Additionally, Blue Cross has been committed to providing access to quality, affordable healthcare for almost 90 years. Our Medicare plans have strong provider networks that include 99 percent of Minnesota hospitals and 96 percent of doctors. We’re proud of our current Medicare plans, and we are very excited for some new offerings coming in 2023.
1 BASED ON ENROLLMENT DATA FROM CMS MARCH 2022, NAIC MAY 2022
2 NAIC BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION MARKET INSIGHTS DATA, 2021
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