As 2011 unfolds, health insurance companies are making the required changes to their ways of doing business, as prompted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as Health Care Reform. Some requirements started in 2010, others for 2011, others up and coming and some involve Medicare products.

That said, the industry is poised for further financial success; direct written premiums are up 13.6% from 2007 to 2009 although the industry lost 7.5 million subscribers to their health care plans, a consequence of the bleak employment situation.

Consumers in the meantime are feeling a bit battered and bruised, if not downright angry, all brought on by the economic situation since the financial crisis of late 2008. They’ve watched their healthcare premiums increase and their deductibles grow, even as their houses lose even more value and become even harder to sell, and as their wounded investment portfolios remain top of mind. Although all consumers are affected to one extent or another, those 63 and older have heightened anxieties about what the future will bring during their impending retirement years and how they will pay for it.

These retiring Baby Boomers will need to learn the ropes when it comes to Medicare—how it functions and the best products and brands to buy. It is not often that the consumer meets the health insurance industry in a direct to consumer selling environment. This alone presents an opportunity for the industry to look anew at how it sells Medicare insurance.

This report answers the following questions, among others:

What are the stresses currently experienced by consumers, particularly their concerns about retirement income and the rising costs of healthcare?

When will the large 75+ million Baby Boomers, the generation just approaching the 65 year mark, decide to retire and when will they start buying into either a Supplement or Medicare Advantage product?

How are people making their decisions about the types of Medicare insurance to buy and how big of a role is the internet playing in this process, especially as the Medicare website is only a click away?

How much of a role does advertising play, especially in direct mail and print media, during the open enrollment season?

What are the over-arching trends seen in current advertising efforts, as gathered from specific examples from Mintel’s Comperemedia database?

What types of new health insurance products are being launched by the industry, and to what extent are wellness programs making inroads into the product mix?