Why did HCSC even bother to acquire the Cigna MA LOB? HCSC has made it clear that Cigna MA employees have no value to them and that they could not care less about us. What was the point? Will they actually make a profit from their expansion in the MA market, or possibly from selling us when the one-year period is up, or will they write off the aquisition as a loss--what is the real reason?
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@23s Wondering why Blue would want more Medicare Advantage (Cigna/Healthspring MA) if it won't make them money. What is the long-game plan?
Slightly better than Blue? Blue is hemorrhaging money...
The financials for the Healthspring business right now are slightly better than the blue Medicare business right now. Numbers and dollars will speak for themselves.
Who thinks massive layoff coming in April for former Cigna employees? Membership numbers will be way down.
If Cigna was losing money on gov business to the point of getting sold off, how exactly are they more prepared than HCSC?
HCSC is not disciplined enough to make money in government business. Look at the numbers. You can’t compare commercial LOB success to government. Totally different profit margin.
HCSC leadership had the company in a position to buy the HS membership with no new debt.
They had 28 million members before they acquired HS’s 3 million members.
I’m pretty sure they do a better job than you think.
As the other guy/girl mentioned in the comment below, Cigna was losing money on Medicare because it wasn’t run well.
Let’s not act like Cigna/HS was charging a premium for this business, it was sold at a discount to get rid of it.
Not saying HS employees aren’t good. But the Cigna way obviously wasn’t working and it’s not unheard of that the acquired company has to do things the way the acquiring company wants them done.
Now that HCSC owns Cigna, it has no idea on what to do next. Senior leadership plan to "make it happen" has hit a wall. And it isn't going to happen by itself.
The scale and efficiency needed?
Cigna was breaking even and losing money on Medicare before it was sold.
It was a discounted opportunity to enter new markets for HCSC. Not because it was a profit machine.
Look at HCSC’s acquisitions, it buys failing health plans with poor financial situations and turns them around to make money.
Some of you are so confused on why Cigna sold and why HCSC bought.
Wow. I did not realize that most of the Cigna leadership is gone. That’s not good. The HCSC folks do not know how to run this business at the scale and efficiency it is going to need to be profitable. This makes me worried because we already have a hard time getting and retaining new industry talent as is. It will make it harder.
@1bv Akovenko
What Cigna leadership is even left? I know about Sales but I think that’s the only VP left
@18v They need to.
@169 clinical leadership hasn't left yet.
@189 lol explain this!
Hopefully you’re not referring to Jason Bateman lol
@16m that’s a stretch. And regarding the post before yours, if you look at who the remaining Cigna MA SLT leaders are, they are arguably two of the best ones (both pre and post close).
The sales leadership that conveyed to HCSC has been horrendous. Terrible at best.
My worry about the MA business is that - across the board and in every department except Sales- there is no Cigna leadership left. The legacy HCSC MA leadership for the most part are underperformers and stuck in outdated ways of doing things. They have never been held to actual performance metrics, and never have needed to be. I’m concerned we are going to tank because there does not seem to be a strategy beyond focusing on switching to the HealthSpring brand. That is not a strategy- that should be one small piece of a broader strategic vision. If we tank on STARs, it will be over because the revenue loss will be over a hundred million etc.
@jf that one stung. I wonder how they justified cutting bonuses for us who actually do the hard work but giving themselves ridiculous raises. I wonder what surprise is in store for us next March.
In what area is the bonus better?
I was a top performer and got sc--wed because of the new bonus structure.
Lost 20% of my bonus compensation only to find out the executive team got $1-40million dollar bonuses in the news
@fw the only communication goes out in those reorg emails or the quarterly town halls.
As far as the benefits go, the company is very strict on administrative expenses. They’ve changed the PTO policy, stricter on 3 day rule, but positively they’ve made changes to the bonus system which is why most people stick around. You also have access to the BCBSA association benefits as well and they have some cool discounts among other things. There are definitely companies with better benefits but if you’re reading the news, those companies are also drawing back on their benefits and tightening the reigns on their employees too. It’s bad across the board, suffice to say HCSC might just be in the middle.
@e9 this is helpful. I’m not all that sure Cigna “valued” us more but the benefits were better and they were more communicative about what was going on.
They’ve been trying for sometime now to get competitive in other states where Cigna had market share. They attempted to buy a couple different blue plans and it didn’t pan out and with Cigna putting their MA business up for sale it was perfect timing considering some other Ls they had taken in the core states business.
As far as valuing the employees coming over, trust and believe like any other company, they care about their bottom line and have always been pretty tight when it comes to administrative expenses. The HCSC folks have been feeling it for awhile when it comes to career paths and advancement. You either are a 10+ year employee, a vet who has come and gone multiple times, or somebody who is using this as a stepping stone to other roles at ABC company or industry.
Like any job the only way you’re ever going to advance is to leave a place and if you want, come back in. You could also go the contractor route though that carries risk if you’ve never done it. If you feel like they don’t value you, don’t stay through the transition and look for other opportunities. There are some out there even in this effed up job market.
The investment for state required financial reserves and cost to acquire them as a new market entrant (brand) vs the low cost they paid for this membership was cost effective even if they lose some of the membership.
@dj seems like maybe they should have just expanded into the others states without spending all that money..???
Probably no profit will be made this year on HS.
The long term play is group and individual options in the expansion states.
The HS membership is for current membership and revenue. It’s not a money maker at all.
@cm Would you mind expanding on this?
@c8 you would be incorrect
@c6 I would assume we would still be needed? That’s the hope anyways. No way to know for sure in this job market. If Medicare is left remote, maybe there will be advancement opportunities for work from home people but only in Medicare. Time will tell! (Unless anyone knows more, that’d be nice).
HealthSpring was a smart acquisition financially for HCSC. It diversifies their plan offerings, and HealthSpring has better performing Medicare plans. I'm not sure why HCSC isn't prioritizing making conveyed employees feel valued...maybe at some level, they think they can acquire and maintain the business, high performing plans, and market presence without historical knowledge and expertise. And who knows, maybe they can. Unfortunately for hcsc, it seems that conveyed leaders are dropping like flies so they will learn the hard way sooner or later.
@bn What do you think they will do with us next March/April?
I think they made it quite clear they didn't want us with the policy that you can only apply for jobs in a 5 state area. How alienating to those that are stuck in jobs with no advancement or job change opportunities simply because we work remote.