Global Economies Need Global Understanding

Do you work far from home?

We have been investigating some great group health insurance plans. We tried to explain to a very helpful marketing representative, with a big-name insurance brand, that people who work in Northern Virginia commute back and forth between Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Knowing that this very friendly, very talkative rep was somewhere in the Midwest, we were not surprised that the line went silent.

After a few seconds she said, “You’re telling me that you’re in Virginia and you’ll have employees who live in Pennsylvania?”  The line went quiet for a few seconds and she said, “Thaaaat’s going to cost you.” Then there was more silence. Then she said, “WHAT?!”… “That’s not going to cost you anymore at all.”… “Could this be correct? It says here that where you live people commute as far North as Connecticut and as far South as North Carolina?!”

Of course, lots of people don’t drive from Virginia to Connecticut, 5 days a week. The data has something to do with people who take Amtrak a few times a year from DC to NYC. Plus there are 3 international airports which are 58 miles apart and millions of people are just a few minutes from one of them.

So, it’s something of a mindset kind of thing. Something which we think is pretty cool, could sound awful to someone else. But, then the trick of that is trying to envision who we are talking to and what their world is all about.

Then we have to ponder just what it is that is pretty cool about the region where they live.