On SeekMedicare

Clover is very proud of SeekMedicare and its management team. As noted here, they recently closed on a significant round of outside financing and are well-positioned to execute against their mission successfully, as evidenced by their investment from, and partnership with, Walgreens.

We have recently seen some questions about why Clover would seed a company like SeekMedicare, focused on neutrality. This feels like a good spot to spell that out a bit better — in short, it’s because we believe we will often have the best plan in most markets, so when beneficiaries have all the information, they will often pick us.

Clover has stated many times that one of its goals is to bring “Obvious” insurance plans to every market in the United States. What do we mean when we say “Obvious”? We mean the lowest out-of-pocket costs and most flexible network for consumers. Today, Clover strives to deliver “Obvious” plans in all of its established markets. In the last 5 years, we’ve worked tirelessly to build a platform that can deliver “Obvious” plans to market, and we built the Clover Assistant to drive the clinical (outcomes) value that allows Clover to afford it.

At present, Clover is the #1, #2, or #3 leader in many of our established markets, with 10% to 30% of market share. Yet the question still remains: if Clover so frequently offers “Obvious” plan designs in its markets, why hasn’t Clover achieved majority market share in all of its established markets? The short answer: shopping for Medicare plans is a very opaque process, and Medicare Agents often do not share the “Obvious” plan with consumers.

Here are some of the reasons we believe that happens:

• Many large insurance broker agencies are not incentivized to match consumers with the best possible plans for them.
• Many find it much easier to pair up with (and sell) a few large plans, for which they are able to secure large-dollar marketing arrangements, than to sort through every available plan. These arrangements are rarely disclosed to consumers as part of the selling process.
• And sometimes, those arrangements require a broker to return those marketing dollars when a broker agency fails to hit target enrollments. In other words, they incentivize brokers to sell plans that may not be the best choice for consumers.

Despite those arrangements, Clover’s membership has still grown very fast. But we believe we will do even better in the future as regulators, consumers, and the market align to provide greater transparency and neutrality to Medicare eligibles. We believe SeekMedicare can play a significant role in accelerating this outcome.

As SeekMedicare builds its business, we are confident that it will continue to partner with like-minded, consumer-oriented companies, such as Walgreens, and that it will not build its business on top of marketing dollars that sway it to favor some plans over others. Rather, SeekMedicare will deliver valuable services to consumers, who will receive unbiased advice and plan recommendations based on their individualized needs.

Put simply — Clover is a huge believer in information liquidity for Medicare-eligibles, as well as the concept of truly neutral guidance and informed decision-making. That’s why we seeded SeekMedicare. Clover believes that when SeekMedicare grows and expands nationwide, and Medicare eligibles have all of the facts presented in an unbiased way, consumers will win, and so will Clover.