CASE STUDY
State of North Carolina
The State Health Plan (SHP) of North Carolina offers medical benefits to the state’s public employees. Each fall, during an Annual Enrollment period, approximately 477,000 SHP members choose a medical plan option for the coming year. Active members include state employees, teachers and local school personnel, state university and community college faculty and staff, and lawmakers.
Situation
SHP wanted to require members to actively consider their current coverage needs and enroll; otherwise, they’d be enrolled in the most basic medical plan regardless of their previous choice.
SHP also wanted to member to enroll via the web versus calling the call center. Buck aimed for an 8th-grade reading level and upbeat tone to reach and engage all.
Solution
The guide used the previous year’s guide as a source of information but was extensively rewritten and reorganized. It was designed to be warm and engaging in appearance, with information broken into digestible chunks and key points highlighted. A section of hypothetical examples was added to help members choose a plan
Results
- Approximately 85% of members actively enrolled, an increase of more than 40% over the previous year. (Note: The official enrollment deadline was extended a week due to widespread disruption by Hurricane Matthew.)
- Approximately 80% of active members enrolled via the web, an increase of about 50% over the previous year
- The guide also acheived a Flesch-Kincaid “fairly easy to read” score at grade level 8.6