The Insider
July 2011
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The exchanges are coming, the exchanges are coming!
Obviously, exchanges are a very important topic for our client base. HealthConnect has spent considerable time evaluating exchanges and their impact on our agent and general agent clients as well as our business.
As you know, exchanges will set up a new distribution channel for small group and individual/family health insurance plans. The opportunity is that they will result in a significant expansion of the market - persons with moderate income levels who cannot afford health insurance currently will be provided federal subsidies to purchase commercial health insurance. The threat is that this new channel will be set up through government edict, and therefore market forces may not determine the role for agents and general agents and their compensation. In the current distribution channel, brokers are the dominant source of distribution (90% + of small group sold through independent agents and general agents) because of the nature of the health insurance product – it is an expensive and complex product that requires careful explanation, unbiased analysis and local servicing. That role is clearly best provided through an independent agent (versus government call center).
I was recently asked to provide the keynote address at the Mid-Atlantic Health Underwriters Association Conference regarding the impact of exchanges. I have attached selected portions of my presentation below. In essence, the presentation explains the “nuts and bolts” of exchanges: what is an exchange, what does it do, why is it necessary, who will operate them and when will they be rolled out. In my opinion, the section on who will operate the exchanges is important. In the last few months, HealthConnect has met with numerous companies looking to operate exchanges, and our fundamental positioning in these meetings has been to secure a role in a group of companies that would operate an agent and general agent “friendly” exchange. This experience has given us interesting insight into who are the companies looking to operate exchanges, what their view is of agents and general agents and the pricing levels they intend to bid to win the role of operating an exchange.
In my presentation, I have also included a strategy recommendation for agents and general agents. I have outlined what I believe the objectives for each should be in an exchange and how to achieve these goals. Since many states are now retaining consultants and setting up advisory boards to interview all constituents to determine how to set up an exchange, it is crucial for agents and general agents to be actively involved in this process to ensure an appropriate role for themselves within the operation of an exchange.
I also believe the companies best positioned to win the exchange contracts – large government contractors for public health plans and particularly the managed Medicaid providers– are dramatically underestimating the complexity of what needs to be accomplished and these companies have limited to no experience in distributing and servicing commercial health insurance. This, combined with the requirement that exchanges must be self-sustaining via an override on sold policies after initial federal set-up funds are exhausted, have very important implications to agents and general agents and how to position themselves - now and over time - to meet their goals.
Click here for the link to selected portions of the presentation.
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The Product Spotlight section, which will regularly highlight one of our products in more detail, will also enable us to keep you updated on new products and new features of our existing products.
spotlight
Need additional stream of revenue without investing much time into new business? Why not consider voluntary benefits?
Voluntary benefits provide an additional benefit to employees and while they are obtained through the employer-sponsored plan in order to provide a more cost effective alternative, they are selected and paid entirely by employees.
Voluntary benefits provide the following advantages:
- Additional coverage to employees
- Tax savings for employers and employees
- Increased employee's spendable income
- Decreased employee turnover
How do you make it happen for your clients? Call us and we arrange for our voluntary benefits partner to contact you. You put them in touch with your clients and you are done. Our voluntary benefits partner will handle the training and enrollment for your client.
For more information or to set up a meeting, call our office at 877-805-2828 x. 250 or email us at sales@healthconnectsystems.com.
Partner Spotlight will regularly focus on one of our partners whose services we make available to you through our quoting system and HRConnect.
Colonial Life is our voluntary benefits partner. Colonial Life offers a broad line of personal insurance products, including disability, accident, life, cancer, critical illness, hospital confinement and limited benefit medical coverage.
Colonial Life representatives conduct informative sessions with your clients to help them design a flexible employee benefits package that fits their needs. In addition, representatives offer benefit counseling and education sessions to enable each employee understand the benefits offered to them by their employer and to tailor them to their personal needs.
Those sessions are conducted on a one-on-one basis with each employee and cover:
- Review of their current benefits and needs
- Understanding of their coverage options
- Understanding of the impact of the benefits on their paycheck
Providing this information to
employees enhances employees understanding about their benefits and reduces
calls to HR managers about benefit plan questions.
If you have any questions or are interested in providing voluntary benefits to your clients, contact us at 877-805-2828 x.250.
Having trouble using a feature in the quoting system or HRConnect? Tips and Tricks section will provide you with a quick "how to."
Do you know that HR administrators can now upload documents specific to individual employees, such as job description, quarterly review, etc.?
- Login to your HR account (www.reviewmybenefits.com)
- Click on the Employee tab
- You will see Document tab for each individual employee. Click on the Document for the employee whose files you would to like to upload.
- Click on Upload a New Document and upload the document from your computer
- Click on Update. The document should now appear on the list.
- To delete the document, simply check the box for that document and click on Delete Document link on top right.
Want to know what your fellow brokers are saying about our products and how they helped them? Read it here, in the So We Heard section.
so we heard
From Todd F. Taylor, LUTCF, Taylor Benefits Insurance Agency, CA
I have been working closely with Ed Buck [sales] since November of last year. During this time Ed has become a valuable resource in partnering with me to build a brand new market within my agency. Ed introduced me to the voluntary benefits market with Colonial Life and how these benefits could be integrated with HealthConnect’s HR management system.
The timing was great because I was looking to offer my clients anonline HR management system and Ed opened my eyes to the voluntary benefits market by introducing me to a sales system of packaging these benefits with HR Connect. I had ignored the voluntary benefits market since starting my agency in 2003 because I didn’t have a resource in the field to help me deliver these plans to my employer groups. This all changed when Ed introduced the idea of offering HR Connect to all of my groups as a value-added service and being able to tie in the voluntary benefits as an enhancement to the overall employee benefit plan.
The key to the sale of the voluntary benefits is having a resource likeEd to deliver the benefits of HR Connect directly to the client. It relieves me of having to be a jack of all trades in the field and allows us to seamlessly introduce the option of offering voluntary benefits after endearing clients with the gift of the HR management system. It takes a professional with Ed’s people skills and expertise in the marketplace to make this whole thing work. With Ed supporting me in the role of delivering HR Connect, the opportunity for voluntary benefit sales seems unlimited. The system we have implemented together in this ground-floor marketing effort has me really excited about this new line of business for my agency.
We have written some nice business on a few of my groups already and I envision us writing a lot more in the near future. I’m really excited about the
future but the marketing system wouldn’t work without Ed Buck’s support. Like I
mentioned earlier, Ed has been a valuable asset in creating this new revenue
stream for my agency. I could not do it without him. If a few more brokers get
excited about this opportunity and start working the system as we have,
HealthConnect Systems will want to have a few more Ed Bucks in the field to
handle all of the new business. Ed is a skilled presenter and his talents will
be tough to duplicate. I look forward to working with Ed Buck and HealthConnect
for a very long time.
Your opinion counts! This section will feature a quarterly poll to find out your opinion on our products, enhancements, announcements, tips and our communication to you so we can continue to improve.
your opinion
Last time we asked about your main challenges as a health insurance agent, and this is how you voted. Thank you to all those that responded.
Click on the link below to participate in this month's survey:
HealthConnect Systems - 50 Washington St., St 1112, Norwalk, CT 06854 - www.healthconnectsystems.com - sales@healthconnectsystems.com - 877-805-2828 x.250