Issues in AmFam Health Policy - Essay Example

AmFam's policy on health did not meet my expectations. This is a discussion of how their services failed to meet my expectations and a proposition of a method that can be used to collect information to test customer satisfaction, as well as a description of how the data can be used to correct the error.

In selling their health policy to customers, AmFam assured that their processes of claims are going to be met without considering the amount a person has used in health care. They also promised me that they were the ones going to follow the process until they made sure that the hospital involved is paid. These promises were not met when I visited a hospital in New York and the amount of money I was expected to pay was two million US$. This was an amount too much for me to pay for I had spent a lot on the illness of my younger daughter in the past year. When I consulted them as my health insurers, they offered to pay three-quarters of the money leaving me with a burden of US$500 thousand to pay. Their claim was that my family has frequented them within a very short period. In addition to that, I was the person who was sent to the hospital with the insurance document for the payment. This fell short of the promises they had given during the selling of their policies.

As a way to curb this inconsistency in the delivery of services, I would propose that AmFam should carry out market research that is going to establish the flaws in their health policy. This research would gather, analyze and interpret information about their health policy. In this research, they will analyze the past customers, those that are existent and those they think are potential so that they can know the best way to address their needs. This would focus on the complaints and compliments raised by clients of the insurance company.
AmFam should first identify the problems of their health policy from their point of view and the viewpoint of their customers. This should be followed by a critical analysis of their records about the clients’ durability in their company. This will guide them to come up with a specific problem for which they will collect data. They will then formulate hypotheses and this will guide them in venturing into research. Once they have the data, they will venture into analyzing it and through the findings, they will be able to make recommendations about the changes that can be affected in health policy. This process can be done through intensive interviews, which involve filling of questionnaires by customers or through telephone calls where the insurance company will call their customers and request them to answer some predetermined questions (Isikli, 2000).

Using the findings obtained from this research, AmFam is required to identify the areas in the policy that cause dissatisfaction to customers. When these areas are known, the insurance company will be required to carry out reforms in the policy that are aimed at addressing concerns identified by the customers. In this way, they will ensure that they are going to meet the needs and requirements of their customers. Another way to address the concerns of the customers would be to call them and discuss the results together. This would involve them to give recommendations on what should be done about various situations in the company. The company can respond to the findings by giving their customers some discounts for services provided and changing some aspects of the policy in the future.

AmFam will recognize improvement in the satisfaction of customers if they will be able to retain the customers they have and gain some more. If the customers that are insured for other policies in the company opt for health policy, AmFam will be able to realize that they have met the need of their customers. An indication of satisfaction can also be measured by regaining the customers they had lost before reforms were made.

Customer satisfaction is an important consideration that any organization should embrace. The inquiry into satisfaction can be made through market research, which involves the beneficiaries of the product in the market.


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