As we roll into the last week of January 1 enrollment for the individual market, I want to take the time to salute all the CAHU members who have spent hours and days on end working for your clients to enroll them this year. During the first 30 days of open enrollments, over 49% of all enrollments are being done with the help of a certified agent. This number is expected to rise even further, possibly reaching close to 70% by the end of open enrollment.
Last year was the first year of Covered CA, and the difficulties that produced for all of us as they emerged as a start-up entity. This year was the first year of the renewal process, and the issues that brought along with it - some of which have not yet been solved. Know that CAHU has been trying to work to get this smoothed out, and we have been working with Covered CA to bring quickly to the attention whatever issues our agent members have been raising.
At the same time, of course, everyone has been working with the carriers to renew their small group business, 70% of which renewed in the 4th quarter. So it has been very tough for everyone. Long hours, reduced commissions, and the sense of running up a hill of sand have made many of you totally frustrated. I think everyone involved in the process understands what we have been going through.
So I want to say a personal thank you for helping California -- helping your neighbors, your friends, your communities – to figure out the best way to finance their health care coverage this year. It has, and will continue to be, a huge undertaking. I also believe there continues to be huge opportunities for agents in the overall health insurance marketplace.
I have been encouraged to see over 50 agents sign up for the Covered CA Storefront program. The new program permits agents to be listed as a local resource in their community and that they are available to help folks to sign up for Covered CA. Many agents that CAHU leaders met on the Covered CA bus tour were new to the industry, but were setting up enrollment events, gathering tens and hundreds of applications for new enrollment. Some agents enrolled many thousands of new clients over the past year. So agents continue to be innovative about how to operate their businesses, and also smart about how to help their communities reduce the level of uninsured.
Covered CA Issues
We know that the termination issue (how to terminate folks) has been a big concern to many agents. Covered CA has resolved some of the issues, but not all. They will be keeping agents updated as they fix issues that impact that process and workarounds. This has been the biggest need of agents and Covered CA is well aware of it.
Medi-Cal: Covered CA sent out in their weekly agent newsletter (which has turned into a ‘must read’ for everyone who does Covered CA business during this time) information about how to terminate Medi-Cal coverage. I wanted to add some clarification: you or the client needs to contact the county welfare office to request a release from the Medi-Cal plan. Depending on your county, this release can be done by phone or in person. Go to this link to see a list of county Medi-cal offices http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/Pages/CountyOffices.aspx.
Call Center Hold Times: Call center times are still very high and I would expect that they would remain that way until the end of the enrollment period. One of the reasons why is the average time on the phone with an agent is 18 - 19 minutes. Agents have been able to ask all of their questions at one time. We agree that is the better solution than last year, when the reps were only allowed to answer one or two questions, and they had to cut you off at that point. So at least you are able to go through all of your issues at one time. But if you do not want to wait on hold (average wait time - 30 minutes) then you can send an email with specifics to agents@covered.ca.gov. The more specific the better - including case ID number, dates, etc. You should hear back from Covered CA within 48 hours. If you do not, please forward the issues to CAHU (comments@cahu.org) and we will see what we can do. Covered CA has indicated that Monday morning is the heaviest call day and that the weekend hold times are shorter.
Enrollment Activities: Users continue to experience slower response time and errors when previewing plans or performing enrollment activities. If a user experiences an error that causes them to be logged out, it is recommended that they do the following:
Attempt to log out (if not already logged out)
Close their browser
Open the browser and log back in (clearing cookies/cache as needed)
Covered California’s technical support team is actively performing mitigation activities to address this issue.
Covered CA did more than double staff this year for the agent line as compared to last year, and they are training more now. However, those new trainees will not be online for a bit, so we need to get through the slow period for a while. I do believe that the level of call volume will decline over the next month or as the renewals are mostly done, but will increase again as we get closer to the February 15 date - so try to get in as much as possible early in the process. The HBEX Board also announced they are adding 500 new temp staff to help process new enrollee paperwork through June.
CAHU is working hard to better the relationship between Covered CA and CAHU members - to that end, we were successful with Covered CA in changing the Storefront guidelines to make it more palatable to agents. We are continuing to press for better show of CAHU members in advertising and marketing programs from Covered CA, and have been featured in almost all public appearances of the Covered CA staff over this enrollment period. So things are looking up in that regard.
CAHU Issues
We get a lot of suggestions, complaints and questions at the CAHU level from our membership, and of course, as a volunteer organization, everyone has an opinion. Which is the way it should be. We continue to get lots of good comments from the comments@cahu.org email address. I know that we have great leadership at our local chapter levels and at the CAHU board.
But I do want to also ask that people who are not already in leadership positions - members of CAHU - please volunteer to step forward into those leadership positions. This is the time of year where the local and state boards start to worry about who will be on the board for the next year. There is absolutely NO requirements to being a board member other than the desire to serve your industry and being a member in good standing. GA reps and carrier reps, agents, staff members - anyone who is in our industry and wants to help is welcome. So please think about helping out.
We have many folks who say that there is just not enough time, etc.
That is true - there is never enough time. But I can guarantee you
that if you do take the time, the rewards are going to be worth it - both from
a business perspective in terms of understanding our business better as well as
a personal perspective of giving back to your industry. The people that
you meet, the ideas you can glean from other members, the connections that you
make both in our industry as well as with our local political leadership make
it very valuable. It actually is well worth it. And there are plenty of
needs to fill. CAHU and the local chapters have so many ideas to make our
lives better, but we just do not have the bandwidth to get everything done.
We get lots of great ideas...we just need more people to help implement
them. So please take the plunge this year, and approach your local to see
what you can do. It can be as a board member or a committee member.
It is an exciting, interesting time in our industry. Lots of new
good and some bad stuff. We need to make sure there is more of the former
and less of the latter. Sign up now to help.
Thanks,
Patrick Burns
comments@cahu.org