86.6% of Medicare Documents Are Not Accessible To Those 65 Years And Older

BALTIMORE, Jan. 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 15% of the U.S. population is older than 65 and can avail of Medicare. This is an important audience for insurance companies to serve, yet they are communicating poorly with the demographic in question -  51% of whom have basic or below basic health literacy levels (as measured by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2003).

"Trust in the health insurance industry in the US is declining, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer," says Fergal McGovern, CEO of VisibleThread. "This is alarming as trust isn't a 'nice to have'. Lack of trust means less customer loyalty. And that means customers take their business elsewhere. Acquiring new customers becomes more difficult and expensive for organizations."

Plain language builds trust

Communicating in plain language is one of the most critical ways to build trust. But 86.6% of insurers are using complicated language, long sentences, passive voice and complex word density to communicate with Medicare's audience.

VisibleThread conducted analysis of 30 U.S. healthcare providers. The results show that:

• Only 6 out of 30 insurers have an acceptable complex word density
• 56.6% of insurance companies communicate in an academic tone with excessive use of passive voice
• Long sentences are at 2x the recommended level
• 66% of insurers produce content more difficult to read than Moby Dick
• 86.6% of insurers surveyed are not communicating effectively with those 65 and older

Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) technologies, organizations are now able to implement plain language programs that are more likely to succeed.

An increase in trust, and customer loyalty, follows.

About VisibleThread

VisibleThread helps organizations govern content quality, embed plain language and simplify the user journey for their customers.

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SOURCE VisibleThread