TouchWell is a large health insurance plan serving major markets in Texas, including Dallas / Fort Worth (DFW), Houston, Austin and San Antonio. TouchWell is attempting to adapt to a changing health insurance environment transitioning from a situation where:

• 60% of consumers receive coverage through their employer or their spouse’s employer.
• 8% purchased health insurance on their own directly from a carrier.
• 16% received coverage through some type of government program including Medicare and Medicaid.
• 16% are uninsured.

Passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 promises to change the landscape for TouchWell and other health insurers:

• Fewer consumers will receive their coverage through employers as employers, particularly small ones, begin to drop employee coverage.
• More of those who had employer sponsored coverage previously will buy on their own directly from carriers through federal or state sponsored health insurance market places which began in the fall of 2013.
• The uninsured will be able to purchase through the health insurance market places, noted above, with a level of government subsidy, up to 100%.

The main issue that TouchWell wants to address in the research project for which results are shown is the fact that more consumers will be buying directly from carriers.

• This means that, as with other consumer goods, their brands will become increasingly important and they need to have closer contact with consumers.
• To address these changes, TouchWell has made the decision to open “stores” in selected areas throughout the markets they serve.
• They believe that consumers are going to need convenient channels through which they can communicate and interact with health insurance organizations.
• They have observed that other health insurers in other parts of the country have opened retail stores and believe that they need to do the same to remain competitive.
• They are interested in understanding:
  • the overall appeal of their store front location concept in different markets and
  • across different demographic groups, want to test various name options they have come up and
  • the need to quantify the relative importance of different store features.
• The methodology they used in their recently completed research project and selected research results are provided on the following pages.

1. Comment on the general effectiveness of the presentation. Are the slides easy to understand? Do they effectively convey key information? What suggestions would you make for improving the presentation?

2. Comment on the “overall concept appeal” results. What does this slide convey? Does it provide a clear picture? What changes, if any, would you make in the presentation of this information?

3. Comment on the “naming comparison” results slide. A strong contingent of managers favors the TouchWell Care Café name. What would you say to them? What would be your first choice among the names tested based on the research findings? Second choice? Third choice?

4. How would your recommendations for services to offer differ based on appeal of service? Likelihood to use service? Which one do you think is more important?

5. What would your recommendations be regarding key characteristics of the centers?