Conversations: Lessons From the Massachusetts Connector
Healthcare exchanges present the opportunity to capture a potentially $100 billion new market of previously uninsured. They also present enormous challenges related to how you price your products and services, differentiate yourself in a highly competitive new marketplace, and face more unknowns than knowns in terms of state dynamics. As part of our work helping healthcare clients create strategies that work for them, Oliver Wyman has been partnering with Jon Kingsdale, the founding executive director of the Massachusetts Connector. Jon’s firsthand experience establishing and operating the nation’s first healthcare exchange has been an invaluable addition to our understanding of how the Affordable Care Act will play out in the real world.
Sharing ideas with Jon has allowed our clients to benefit from his unique insight, which has proved a powerful complement to Oliver Wyman’s own research on the impact of exchanges. We thought more people would appreciate hearing his perspective so we got Jon together with our colleague Howard Lapsley for a set of brief video conversations on the early days of the Connector and the lessons we can learn from it.
WINNERS ON THE EXCHANGE
State exchanges will likely vary widely in their implementation, but one constant is clear: While price is king in this new world, payers can’t ignore the power of brand. Jon delves deeper into the dynamics of price and brand as seen in the Massachusetts Connector.
50 STATES: 50 DIFFERENT MARKETPLACES
Each state has a distinct approach to exchanges, ranging from completely free-market to highly structured. Jon discusses how it’s essentially a false dichotomy if the ultimate focus for both the exchange and participating health plans is delivering value.
EXCHANGES' ROLE IN INNOVATION
Exchanges can drive innovation, but it’s not a given and not across the board. Jon examines which aspects of exchanges have the potential to be true catalysts for innovation — creating the “perfect storm” for value-based healthcare.
