Florida Blue triples Central Florida workforce with addition of nearly 300 jobs in Seminole County

Florida Blue announced a major expansion of its Central Florida operations today. The state's largest health insurer will add more than 280 positions and a new 30,000-square-foot office in Seminole County, tripling its local workforce.
Florida Blue unveiled its newest contact center located at 701 International Parkway in Lake Mary as part of the expansion announcement. The contact center will house 180 fulltime employees providing service to its individual, group and Medicare members.
Florida Blue currently has contact centers at its headquarters in Jacksonville as well as in Tampa and Miami. The addition of 180 contact center staff in Lake Mary will further enhance the company's ability to serve its members.    
"Florida Blue is committed to the state of Florida. We're proud to be the only health insurer offering group, Medicare and individual plans in all 67 counties, and we want to continue that commitment by providing job opportunities across the state," said Tony Jenkins, Florida Blue market president for the Central Florida region.
"Orlando offers a well-educated, diverse population," Jenkins noted. "Locating this contact center here in Lake Mary will allow us to further diversify the staff to provide our members greater opportunity to speak with someone who represents their community."
Most positions in the contact center will be service advocates who will assist members via telephone, electronically and through written correspondence with questions about enrollment, membership, billing, claims, benefits, Obamacare, Medicare and more.
Starting pay for service advocate roles will be $15.50 per hour. A select number of professional roles with starting salaries ranging from $40,000 to $70,000 were also created by the expansion. Hiring is already underway for the newly created positions, which Florida Blue aims to have filled by September.
The Lake Mary contact center also enhances the company's business continuity capabilities, allowing additional operational flexibility in case one of the other locations is affected by weather or other unexpected events.
Florida Blue also will hire more than 100 seasonal contractors for telephone health plan sales and sales support. These positions will begin in late August and run through December and January. Contractors will receive base pay of $16-$17 per hour with monthly bonus opportunities.
Anyone interested in applying for a position with Florida Blue should visit FloridaBlue.com/careers.
About Florida Blue
Florida Blue, Florida's Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, is a leader in Florida's health care industry. Our mission is to help people and communities achieve better health. Florida Blue has approximately 4 million health care members and serves 15.5 million people in 16 states through its affiliated companies. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., it is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. For more information, visit www.FloridaBlue.com.

- Special to the Herald