As leaders in the healthcare industry, it is crucial for us to truly understand the experiences of the customers we serve. Just as car executives drive their own vehicles and airline leaders occasionally fly coach, it is important for those designing Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to also be enrolled in and use these plans themselves. This ensures that there is empathy and a deep understanding of the needs and challenges faced by seniors who rely on these products for their well-being.
Dr. Mehmet Oz recently turned 65 and became eligible for Medicare, presenting a unique opportunity for him to lead the charge in closing the empathy gap in the healthcare industry. As the CEO of a company that offers Medicare Advantage plans, I am proposing a new standard that would apply to all leaders in this space. This standard mandates that if you run a Medicare Advantage plan or are part of its executive team, you must enroll in that plan yourself. There should be no exceptions or special treatment for executives.
Furthermore, I suggest that there should be a new category of Medicare eligibility created for executives under 65, allowing them to voluntarily enroll in their own MA plans. This “test user” capacity would provide leadership with firsthand experience of the member’s perspective, including benefit design, customer service, and network constraints.
The proposal is modest yet necessary in driving positive change within the industry. By requiring all managed care CEOs and executive teams to enroll in their own MA plans, we can ensure operational truth, accountability, culture change, public trust, and policy innovation. This move would not only benefit the leaders themselves but also improve the overall customer experience and trust in Medicare Advantage plans.
It is time to move away from designing healthcare products that we ourselves would never use. We must ensure that decision-makers in the industry are fully immersed in the experiences of the customers they serve. This includes leaders like Dr. Oz, every MA CEO, and myself. Let us all commit to eating our own cooking and driving positive change in the healthcare industry.
