Florida Blue opening new call center in Lake Mary

July 28--Florida Blue is establishing a stronger presence in Central Florida by opening a new call center in Lake Mary, officials announced on Thursday.

The center, located in a 30,000-square-foot space on the second floor of an office building at 701 International Parkway, brings 180 full-time and 100 seasonal jobs to the area and triples the insurer's local workforce.

Tony Jenkins, Florida Blue market president for Central Florida, said the area's population growth and diversity were among key factors in placing the new call center here.

"We also get great support from the city and Seminole County officials whenever we express interest in expanding," Jenkins said.

During Thursday's press briefing at the new building, city and county officials thanked Florida Blue for choosing Lake Mary for expansion and new job opportunities.

"You're providing the one thing that Americans consistently want: they want a great job," said Lake Mary Mayor David Mealor.

Florida Blue already has an administrative office with 140 employees in Lake Mary and a presence in Central Florida with three retail centers. Its parent company, GuideWell, has two emergency medicine clinics here, in addition to GuideWell Innovation CoRE, which opened in Lake Nona earlier this year.

Most of the new jobs involve helping members via phone, e-mail or written correspondence with questions about enrollment, membership, billing, claims, benefits, Obamacare and Medicare, officials said.

The starting pay is $15.50 an hour. A number of professional roles have starting salaries ranging from $40,000 to $70,000.

The seasonal positions, which are for phone sales and support, begin in late August and end at December or January. The base pay for those jobs is $16 to $17 per hour.

Florida Blue has already started hiring and training new employees and hopes to have a full workforce by October, before Medicare and Affordable Care Act open enrollments begin.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida Blue is the largest health insurer in the state. It has 6,100 employees and offers plans in all counties. Its membership has been growing, particularly in the federal health insurance exchange, Jenkins said, because two major insurers have pulled out of the marketplace in Florida.

The call centers, Florida Blue officials said, are the single largest channel that customers use to contact the insurer. On a typical day the centers receive about 30,000 calls. The new Lake Mary call center is the fourth, and second-largest, center for the insurer.

The company's new space belonged to a software company, which as part of a deal, left behind furniture, including adjustable desks, big screen televisions, foosball and ping pong tables.

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