Last week, CAHU representatives
from across the state gathered for the first face to face Board of Director’s
meeting in 2014. While the CAHU Board of
Directors Conference Calls have been helpful from a budget standpoint, it was
readily apparent just how important our in person meetings are to further
articulate a cohesive pathway for CAHU.
In response to concerns raised by a number of chapters, two important ad
hoc committees were established:
1. Special
Issues and Information Committee, Dave Fear, Jr., Chair
This committee
is specifically tasked with collecting data and developing statistics that will
demonstrate the critical role the agent community has played in the
implementation of the Affordable Care Act, both on and off the exchange. A particular emphasis of the committee will
be to format the information into useful presentations for legislators, their
staff, and to advance Public Relations outreach across the state. The committee will work directly with the
Vice President of Public Affairs, the Vice President of Legislation and our
legislative advocates to obtain and prepare the information.
2. Statewide
Diversity Committee, Michael Lujan, Chair
This committee
is tasked with identifying and developing an agent diversity task force
comprised of CAHU members who will be encouraged to represent the California
Association of Health Underwriters at outreach, enrollment, and press events
across the state. A special emphasis
will be placed on including multilingual agents in the task force. The committee will work directly with our
Executive Director to organize Diversity Teams for each geographic area in the
state, develop talking points and implement media training, orchestrate
outreach opportunities and deploy CAHU spokespersons whenever possible and
where needed. The Diversity Committee will also make recommendations focused on
raising the visibility of our diversity assets on our CAHU website and through
social media.
Board members in attendance
received an update on the CAHU-opposed Insurance Rate Public Justification and
Accountability Act (IRPJAA). This ballot
initiative will appear on the November 2014 ballot. Although IRPJAA is often compared to AB 52 (Feuer),
a 2011 bill that was held in the State Senate, the ballot rate regulation initiative
is potentially far more damaging to health care in California, while still
doing nothing to control cost of health care.
Members are encouraged to become educated early on this important issue
at www.stophighercosts.com.
Following the CAHU Board Meeting,
representatives from across the state reviewed, debated, and took positions on
over 120 pieces of legislation currently before the California State Legislature.
CAHU’s full report on these legislative issues will be distributed in the near
future.
Covered California
On March 5, the
first quarter meeting of the SHOP Advisory Group meeting convened in
Sacramento. Stakeholders continued to
press Covered California for action on a wide range of issues which included
call center service issues, staffing, and upcoming agent re-certification. The SHOP enrollment statistics thus far for
2014 are as follows: January-535 groups;
February-220 groups; March-227 groups. A
major point of debate with Covered California was the merit of designing
promotional efforts of the SHOP exchange to place more emphasis on the critical
role of agents. As a result, Covered
California committed to work directly with CAHU in an effort to more clearly
assert the role of agents than has been the case in the past. I look forward to reporting further progress
on this concern in the immediate future.
Here are
some more issues from last week:
Lead Generation for Incomplete Applications
Covered California informed CAHU they
plan to use a combination of direct mail, email and phone calls to reach the
consumers to follow up with incomplete applications that do not have a
designated agent noted. Covered
California will contact consumers that have either: a) started, but not completed, an application
for coverage, or b) contacted Covered California to ask for additional
information. The proposed process will
be:
- Covered California will send a letter within the next several days to those individuals whose applications remain partially complete. The letter will ask if the individual wishes to be contacted for further free assistance by an agent to complete their application. If the individual provides an affirmative response, that lead will be distributed to at least three certified agent portals near the consumer’s geographic location. If contact was made by email, consumers will be directed to the Covered California online resources to find a nearby certified insurance agent.
- Voice (Interactive Voice Recognition) is Covered California’s newest process devised to reduce incoming call wait times and capture actionable leads for enrollment. This process will permit an individual who contacts a call center and put on hold to have the option to affirm their desire to be called back by an agent through a series of prompts in the outgoing message. If the individual indicates they wish to be contacted further, they will be given the opportunity to leave contact information. As with affirmations received from the letter solicitations, the lead will be distributed to an agent portal in a proximate geographical location. Covered California hopes that by redirecting some of the call volume to specialized areas of concern will help to reduce the number of callers in the queue, as call wait times still can easily last an hour or much longer.
Agent of Record
CAHU continues to make a top
priority the protection of agents from carrier abuse of “no known” or “losing
AOR” for submitted policies. CAHU had previously requested an audit of all
cases with these designations. Pinnacle has
suggested an expedited process for missing AORs which will be to allow
Pinnacle to make AOR corrections by obtaining the last name, and last four
numbers of the agent’s social security number from agents who contact Pinnacle
directly. Covered California confirmed with CAHU that it is in communications
with the carriers and is also evaluating the Pinnacle suggestion.
Change Request Form
Covered California confirmed that
the final version of the Change Request Form has been sent to Pinnacle for its
review. CAHU will keep you keep you posted on this item as it makes its way
through the pipeline at Pinnacle.
Register for the 2014 Capitol Summit May 20 & 21 in Sacramento to hear the most up-to-date report on pending legislation and an in depth review of the Insurance Rate Public Justification and Accountability Act! Register via www.cahu.org.
Also, just a reminder: CAHU
leaders respond to member questions and concerns via comments@cahu.org.
Until Next Week,
Sam
Sam