On September 4, 2025, the City of Nashua hosted a benefits presentation featuring Margaret Cooper from Smart Shopper, a product of Anthem Healthcare Carrier. The session explained how employees can use the Smart Shopper program to compare costs of medical procedures, earn cash rewards, and help reduce overall plan costs. The presentation included a live demonstration and a question-and-answer period.
Program Overview: Margaret Cooper introduced Smart Shopper as a free benefit for City of Nashua employees enrolled in the Anthem health plan. She emphasized that the cost of the same medical procedure can vary dramatically even within the same network, and that shopping for care can save money for both employees and the city. Key features include:
Q&A Topics:
All right. Today we have Margaret Cooper with us from Smart Shopper, which is a product of our Anthem Healthcare Carrier here. So what we're going to do today is go through the Smartshopper platform and how that all works. And then we have the opportunity for question and answers towards the end, if that if that works for everybody. If you have a really really important question, just put your hand up and then we'll work questions in in the middle. But we like to try to keep them till the end so that we can get through the whole presentation. So anyway, Margaret. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. So excited to be here to talk about Smart Shopper. It's a benefit provided through your City of Nashua benefits and a partnership with Anthem. So what a lot of members aren't aware of is that the cost of the same medical procedure can vary differently, even within the same health plan or network or even block to block. And just choosing a network provider in your network doesn't guarantee the cost. So you know, how do you choose where to go to get the best price? It's really hard to do on your own. So you know it may be $600 from a standalone facility, $2100 in the hospital. But if you don't shop, you won't know where to go, and you won't know the cost until the bill shows up. And then that's where Smart Shopper comes in. You know, we shop for everything in our lives today from blue jeans, uh, my husband's shopping for a home security camera system right now, appliances, but a lot of members don't think about shopping for medical procedures. Um, and it's one of the largest budget items our families have. So it's important to shop around. So that's where Smart Shopper comes in. Uh we help you find the right place to go at the right price, and we save you money when you do that. The choice is always yours. When you shop with Smart Shopper, we show you everyone in network and local to you, but the choice is still yours. But if you compare the cost of medical services and shop the same way you do for everything else, you're gonna save yourself money, you're gonna save the city money. That keeps premiums down for everyone. Um, but the best part is we'll send you a cash reward for choosing cost effective care. So how it works when you go to the doctor and they're sending you out for uh procedure or testing. We don't want to change your doctor just where you're having testing and procedures done, you'll reach out to Smart Shopper and you can shop online at Smartshopper.com or you can call our concierge team and I'll talk more about them because that I think they're great. Then you have the procedure done at the location that you choose. If that location is cost effective, within about 60 days of your date of service, you will receive a cash check in the mail. Um processes claims every day. Smart Shopper, we process checks every week, but we do have to give time for the facility and the doctor to file their claim. So we say about 60 days. So what's included in the program? Not everything is shoppable, but um common screenings such as colonoscopies, mammograms, diagnostic testing, um, even some surgical procedures are included in the program. So not everything's shoppable, but if you have something coming up, reach out to us and let us take a look and see if we can save you some money. Here's some examples of procedures included in the program and a reward that you can receive. So, for example, physical therapy is part of your program. 150 dollars is what you can receive back for shopping physical therapy and going to a cost-effective provider. So here's an example of how Smart Shopper can save you money. Um, this member has a $2,500 deductible. She's having a few procedures done. She doesn't really know where to go or how to shop. She goes wherever her physician points her to. So she's paying for a scope, a colonoscopy, and an MRI. She's gonna pay out of pocket her deductible to $2,500. Nashua self-funded, so everything above and beyond that deductible, the city covers. So we're all paying for it one way or the other.