Medical and Vision Go Together Just Like PB&J

INDIANAPOLIS, June 23 /PRNewswire/ — What are among life’s perfect matches?
With life more hectic and complicated than ever, a new WellPoint survey asks
Americans about pairings – those that work, those that don’t and the things
they’d like to combine into one package to simplify their lives.

According to the findings, milk and cookies, peanut butter and jelly, and ham
and cheese are matches made in heaven for most. Other pairings, however, are
less desirable. For example, the meeting of spouses and former romances was a
definite no-no for many, followed by an almost equally strong preference to keep
chocolate and wasabi separate. Alcohol and high school reunions were another
eyebrow raiser.

However, when it comes to combining the many services in their lives, Americans
expressed a strong preference for packaging their health plans, with 82 percent
preferring to receive all of their health insurance (medical, dental, vision,
life/disability) from the same provider.

Why? Most respondents felt that merging these services might lead to better
prices, help them save time and simply keep them from getting “stressed out.”

Although most Americans feel they manage their lives well, almost 50 percent
agree that it is hard to balance both work and home and manage all the bills and
services they use. They are looking to simplify their lives and believe
companies need to find ways to help them.

“Members aren’t the only ones who prefer bringing together medical, dental,
vision and life/disability services,” says Jeff Spahr, staff vice president of
Vision and Voluntary Services for WellPoint. “According to a recent WellPoint
study, many employers prefer purchasing multiple benefits from the same family
of companies as well, because of better pricing, better customer service and the
convenience of a single point of contact.”

In addition, one of the benefits of obtaining coverage from a multi-line carrier
is being the recipient of integrated services. WellPoint’s affiliated health
plans provide many comprehensive programs that offer a one-stop shop approach to
health care coverage.

“For instance, members who have health and dental plans and are pregnant or have
diabetes will receive one additional dental cleaning or periodontal maintenance
procedure a year,” said Spahr. “Similarly, members who have vision coverage and
a total health solution program included in their health plan may be enrolled in
a diabetes program, which helps them proactively manage their condition if their
vision claims include a diabetic-related diagnosis.”

Unifying medical and vision services not only helps employers and their
employees reduce health care costs and save money, it also can lead to the
prevention or early management of costly medical conditions, such as glaucoma,
high blood pressure and diabetes. This was the case recently with a member who
learned he was diabetic during his eye exam. He received medical treatment
within a week and now follows a diabetes informational program to maintain a
healthy life.

In short, when an employer provides its employees with medical, dental, vision,
life/disability coverage from a company that offers multiple lines of services
or a single point of contact, it becomes a win-win situation with numerous
benefits.

The omnibus survey was conducted online among a national sample of 1,000
Americans ages 18+ (balanced to Census). Fielding took place in March 2010 by
Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS). The survey has a margin of error of +/-3.1 at the
95% confidence level, meaning if the study were replicated, the study findings
would be within 3.1 percentage points.

AboutWellPoint, Inc.

WellPoint works to simplify the connection between Health, Care and Value. We
help to improve the health of our communities, deliver better care to members,
and provide greater value to our customers and shareholders. WellPoint is the
nation’s largest health benefits company, with more than 33 million members in
its affiliated health plans. As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Association, WellPoint serves members as the Blue Cross licensee for
California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut,
Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas
City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as the Blue Cross Blue Shield
licensee in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as the
Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in selected upstate counties
only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington,
D.C.), and Wisconsin. In a majority of these service areas, WellPoint does
business as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield or Empire Blue
Cross Blue Shield (in the New York service areas). WellPoint also serves
customers throughout the country as UniCare. Additional information about
WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.