Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Horizon BCBS, Horizon, Horizon BC-BS, Lab Corp, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Horizon New Jersey Health, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ, Horizon Blue I worked at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, what I saw... Newark New Jersey

I am an insurance broker that was hired to work at mall kiosk locations for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield signing people up for their Affordable Care Act plans during the open enrollment period. The reason that I got the job because as a broker, I already had the certifications to sell their products. Once hired, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Cross gave me a week of training where they covered the various plans that were offered, and issues of ethics, diversity and dealing with ethnic groups. On my second day of working in the mall, the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield employee asked me if I sold Horizon BCBS products and I told her that generally brokers don't sell the Horizon BCBS products due to their costs and the 6 month time to pay commissions but that I sell them and get certified every year to do so. The next day I was fired and the reason given was that I was trash talking the company. When I was fired one of the employees said that Horizon BCBS employees are "sensitive" about anything negative about the company.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield needs to be honest about their prices for their plans. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield is a non profit health insurer in New Jersey. Yet it acts like a for profit carrier. It has crazy high salaries for its executives and its not at all competitive in relation to other insurers. For example, in 2014 Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield's Medicare Advantage plan for New Jersey had a $149 per month plan charge, while many of the other Medicare Advantage plans had $0 per month plan charge. The Affordable Care Act plans can also be very expensive in relation to the other choices.

One of the things that I noticed about their mall kiosk operation was that Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield uses a proprietary computer system when signing people up for their plans. The computer screens out the other plans from the other insurers so that only Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are showing. They are hoping that the average person will see the blue cross blue shield name, see that its a non profit company, see their plans, think that its a low price, and just sign up. To me, this goes against the whole concept of the Affordable Care Act. Every consumer should be able to see the plans that are available to them. It would be better to show all of the plans to the consumers and then try to "sell" them on Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield plans instead. This would be more ethical in my book.

Like I said, I didn't expect this from this company. Hope this sheds some light on their practices.

Peace.

The Insurance Broker.