Dear Members,Customer service is a main priority for Freelancers Union. That’s why, as soon as we heard from some of you that there were problems with billing and customer service, we started looking for solutions. After an extensive search, we decided to change our billing vendor and will now be working with HealthPlan Services (HPS), which has deep experience with unions and large employers. Because over 20,000 members have enrolled in our insurance plans, we now have the numbers to contract with vendors in a higher league. For the majority of you who haven’t experienced billing problems, this will not have an impact on your service. The biggest change will be what day of the month you are billed. For all members, we envision that HPS will provide consistent, quality service that will make the entire billing process—including customer service—smoother and easier. We’ve also developed a team that is very experienced in insurance infrastructure to help make this switch and ensure minimal disruptions to you. We consider this change to be a part of our larger, ambitious goal to rewrite the rules for the new workforce. Freelancers Union offers health, dental, disability, and life insurance to members because independent workers have been left out of the New Deal era protections that traditional workers take advantage of. That’s why our goal is to be here for you now, and twenty years from now, to insure you have a support system for the benefits you need. Because our members are mobile and flexible, our systems need to be electronic. In this regard, we are ahead of the rest of the insurance industry. We will continue to work closely with HPS and our other partners to develop strong, innovative ways to provide benefits to our members. That’s what sets us apart from private insurers. And in order to help ensure a smooth transition with HPS, we are:

1. Hosting a series of webinars with me and the CEO of HPS to listen to your concerns and to answer your questions.
2. Revamping our phone systems to make it easier to get the information you need.
3. Assembling a Problem Resolution Team of senior member services experts who can work to get your problem resolved.
   As always, you can email me at sara@freelancersunion.org with your thoughts and comments, or respond in the comments section of this blog post. I will continue to blog about the most pressing issues members have. Sara Horowitz is the Executive Director of Freelancers Union