Study shows subscribers concerned with their everyday health during the COVID-19 pandemic; identifies pain points in maintaining beneficial habits
InComm Payments, a leading global payments technology company, today released the results of its Medicaid subscribers research, which found that many Medicaid members are prioritizing healthy habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was based on responses from 1,700 U.S. Medicaid subscribers during the month of October.
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Medicaid enrollment is up this year, according to recent analysis completed by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a trend expected to continue as enrollment reflects changes to the economy. This trend was captured in the survey as 15% of respondents were new users who signed up for Medicaid within the past year. All respondents were asked about their health-related behaviors and attitudes regarding restricted-access network benefits and rewards/incentives cards.
“It’s no surprise that healthy habits and routine services are a top priority for many at this time,” said Brian Parlotto, Executive Vice President at InComm Payments. “It’s encouraging for health plans that members are paying attention to their long-term health and expressing an interest in plan incentives that may help maintain their healthy behaviors.”
Majority of Medicaid subscribers agreed that healthy habits are more important now than ever
Nearly all respondents (96%) said healthy habits are on their daily priority list.
However, 45% of respondents said healthy habits are difficult to maintain during the pandemic. The main factors impacting maintaining healthy habits were:
Stress (49%)
Expenses (24%)
Reduced access to gyms or classes (10%)
Over 40% of respondents said they were engaging in fewer in-person medical services.
But 59% of subscribers are using telehealth appointments more now than in the past.
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Medicaid subscribers report willingness to engage in preventive care if incentivized
We asked respondents what they’d be willing to do to earn rewards dollars through an incentives/rewards card program. The top five activities were:
68% said they’d complete annual wellness exams.
58% said they’d complete a yearly dental visit.
53% said they’d take annual vaccines, including the flu shot.
50% said they’d complete screenings and risk assessments, such as cholesterol tests, mammograms or prostate exams, etc.
42% said they’d participate in mental health coaching.
Subscribers express interest in restricted-spend/rewards card programs
Respondents who weren’t enrolled in restricted spend select product and incentives/rewards programs were asked about their interest in these plan benefits
82% of Medicaid subscribers who aren’t currently able to use a rewards/incentive card said they would have some level of interest in such a program.
83% agreed they’d be willing to complete some form of administrative activity (e.g., online logs, after-program tests, etc.) in order to join a rewards program.
Medicaid reward cards are overwhelmingly well-received by cardholders
90% believe this benefit helps them achieve their health and wellness goals.
90% rated their overall experience with the card as ‘4’ or ‘5’ out of five stars.
67% use their card at least monthly.
88% report using the card in-store is easy.
“We’re happy to see that health plans are able to make such a positive impact in Medicaid members’ overall health and satisfaction,” said Parlotto. “We’re excited keep growing our offerings at InComm Healthcare while assisting health plans in supporting the long-term health of their members; for example, our Healthy Foods Card can help plans distribute funds for healthy, nutritious foods, assisting members who may be struggling with food insecurity due to stress or cost.”
InComm Healthcare helps health plans to offer their members supplemental benefit and incentive dollars. InComm Healthcare currently serves more than 500 health and wellness programs for over 300 health plan partners, reaching over six million OTC Network cardholders. The cards in its product suite are accepted at more than 60,000 retail locations, including national retailers and independent pharmacies.
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