Health insurance reform is definitely a hot-button topic these days. Whether you agree or disagree with the politics of health care reform, the simple fact is that big changes are looming on the horizon. This is causing some health insurance providers to increase their customer service skills (gasp!).

The LA Times ran an interesting story about this new phenomenon. You know, health care providers actually having to increase their customer service skills in order to win new business. This seemingly simple concept has alluded this industry for sometime, but with the impending changes, most health care insurance providers are stepping up their game.

In a few years, when you do a health insurance plan comparison, you most likely will notice many more similarities between the available plans than you see today. Health care reform will cause health insurance plans to have an essential benefits package, which means many of the plans will be very, very similar. This is making the insurance carriers have to come up with “novel” ways of setting themselves apart from their competition. For example, by providing a good customer experience.

The LA Times piece talked about a Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliate that has seen great success by opening up retail locations that offer current and prospective customers a place to research coverages, get help with claims, and learn how to live a healthy lifestyle. With the current health insurance coverage landscape being incredibly confusing to the mere mortal, people are using these retail locations to sort through the huge amounts of available plans, and getting personal assistance when necessary.

Another way that health insurance providers are stepping up their game is by making it easier for consumers to get a free online health insurance quote which helps them comparison shop. Right now you can go online to a health insurance comparison website and compare, side-by-side, your options for health insurance coverage. You can instantly get a free online health insurance quote from all the leading providers, all in one location.

In 2014 you are going to be required to have some form of health insurance coverage, and it is going to be up to you to find this coverage. You aren’t going to have some government worker knocking on your door (think Census taker); it is going to be your responsibility to have the required coverage or pay a financial penalty. This makes your ability to get free insurance quotes that much more important as you search for the right insurance plan and provider.

It will be very interesting to see how clever health insurance providers get with their marketing tactics as health plans become more and more similar. Better customer service is one (foreign) way that health care providers are trying to set themselves apart from the competition. Time will tell what other methods they use.