Article at a glance:

The retail revolution in health insurance

• US health insurers, long accustomed to working with companies, are entering a retail world. But many are ignoring the transformation—at their peril.
• These payers have grown up as wholesale enterprises. Their competencies, organizational structures, and mind-sets have been—and largely remain—directed at serving groups, not individual consumers.
• As a payer increasingly deals directly with consumers, it must not only develop much better insights about them but also improve its product management, retail distribution, customer service, risk management, and consumer-oriented medical management.
• The transition will be difficult, since health insurers must develop these retail capabilities while managing the traditional wholesale business.