News Briefs: Survey Finds Customer Satisfaction With Health Plans Ticks Up

Satisfaction with commercial insurance plans increased on a year-to-year basis by 3 points on a 1,000-point scale, according to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Commercial Member Health Plan Study. However, the results, released on May 29, indicate satisfaction varies significantly among carriers. For instance, the highest-performing plans saw their member satisfaction scores increase by 20 points while the lowest-ranked plans saw member satisfaction scores decrease by 8 points. J.D. Power said the largest differences in customer satisfaction among the high-performing and low-performing plans were in plans’ ability to help members save time and money, help them obtain health services, and gain members’ trust. 

CDPHP and the Lifetime Healthcare Cos. have agreed to an affiliation in which Lifetime would become the parent company of CDPHP, according to a May 22 press release. The companies’ boards of directors have unanimously approved the deal, which still must be approved by state and federal regulators. Lifetime is the parent company of Excellus BCBS and Univera Healthcare, which like CDPHP are nonprofit health plans based in New York. If approved, the insurers would maintain their brands.