Thursday, April 28, 2016


 


CALIFORNIA NEEDS AND LOVES AGENTS
March and April have been very busy months for CAHU and our executive board. We continue to promote the role of agents and recently published our whitepaper on the topic of agent compensation. For a third consecutive year, consumers made it very clear that in-person assistance from a licensed agent was preferred over all other methods of enrollment.
CA loves agents: By percentage, more consumers chose agents year-over-year; from 39% in 2014 to 45% in 2016.
CAHU is very proud to have a direct relationship and regular meetings with Covered California. We have shared feedback and suggestions for improving the agent experience and providing protections for fair and reasonable agent compensation. CAHU is proud to contribute feedback to help shape policy, on and off-exchange. That said, Covered California recently approved their Qualified Health Plan model contract to include the following agent-friendly policies:

  • Agents must be paid; zero is not an allowable commission rate
  • Carriers must pay agents for SEP enrollment
  • Carriers must recognize agent-of-record change requests
  • Carriers cannot pay different commissions based on plan-type or metal tier
  • Carriers must notify agent of record of late payment at same time as enrollee
  • These policies will apply for both on and off-exchange business

It is generally CAHU’s preference to allow the market to define and set commission levels for agents. We believe the state should not be involved in setting commissions but CAHU stands ready to help support agents and protect our livelihood if agent commissions continue to decline to unsustainable levels, as they have in other states. We are grateful for the support and reasonable compensation paid by carriers in California and prepared our whitepaper to help policymakers better understand the valuable role agents serve.

CAHU supports agents: California consumers need agents; Our numbers are at risk with declining agent compensation.

The CAHU whitepaper attempts to explain how much work is involved to acquire, enroll, service and renew a policyholder and what is at risk for California consumers if agents are not fairly compensated for this valuable work. As more agents leave the individual market due to low compensation, California consumers could find fewer agents available to help support their sales and service needs. Special thanks to several contributors to this whitepaper, including Pat Burns, Rick Coburn, Julianne Broyles, Alan Katz and David Duker at Word & Brown. Our paper will be posted on the CAHU website later this week.  

VoterVoice
Many of you might be familiar with NAHU’s Operation Shout – VoterVoice is essentially the same – a grassroots system designed to communicate, via email, our position on an issue to political leaders. By registering, you are simply activating your participation in future campaigns. For those of you who have already registered – thank you.


Agents are Consumer Advocates
There are many stakeholders who profess to know what is best for California’s health care and insurance system. As the ACA continues to evolve, many bills have been introduced to help expand access to affordable coverage, improve health cost transparency, and provide more consumer protections. All of these sound great but often the details of these bills may have unintended consequences and actually make matters worse. That is why agents should own our rightful place as consumer and small business advocates. Agents need to be heard in committee hearings.  We need to be in the room when health policy or important decisions are being discussed and share our unique and credible perspective. No one else has a closer understanding and deeper insight than agents.

While we may not usually call ourselves advocates, we should embrace this label and recognize the opportunity to serve our customers through advocacy. CAHU also submitted our suggestions to the state for improving the ACA in California. Our feedback was submitted to the fed through the 1332 Innovation Waiver process. CAHU continues to testify at committee hearings, meet with regulators and help promote the role of agents in the public health meetings, where agents have not traditionally been included.    
LAAHU’s University Day; Speakers and exhibitors, like Ashley Tipton (below) from EaseCentral.

CHAPTER EVENTS
March and April is prime season for large member events, sales symposiums and expos. I had the privilege of speaking at six events over the past two months. LAAHU’s University Day was a mega gathering of 500 plus agents at the LA Convention Center, overshadowed only by Kobe Bryant’s retirement celebration happening next door at the Staples Center. We had some great speakers and exhibitors! San Diego, North Valley (Redding), Desert Cities (Palm Desert), Golden Gate and Silicon Valley also held their big events, mostly focused on technology and innovation. Thank you to all the GA’s, vendors and new sponsors who support traditional agents.


CAPITOL SUMMIT
Capitol Summit is our annual conference, a robust two-day agenda filled with great speakers, CE and legislative updates.  Speakers include, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, Mary Watanabe from DMHC, and a spirited discussion about Agent Compensation and legal options for charging fees. CAHU delegates will also be electing our state leadership for 2017-2018. Registration is Open Now; Please join us May 17 & 18 in Sacramento for a great conference. 


MORE THAN JUST A NEW WEBSITE
Our current website gets the job done but it’s time for spring-cleaning and an upgrade. By June, we will launch our new website with some new features, easier to find resources and a more modern look and feel. Our goal is to help grow the association and better serve our current members. Thanks to the website committee, led by Cerrina Jensen, for their work to build our new web presence and a fresh start for the next generation of members. Please share your suggestions and comments to info@cahu.org. 

 Building a legendary career
Like him or not, Kobe Bryant is an example of extreme dedication to perfectionism and excellence in life and business. His business happens to be basketball but his insane work ethic and discipline is applicable for agents who strive to compete at the highest level. I am a lifelong Lakers fan and my comparisons to Kobe Bryant may miss the mark (especially with Kings, Clippers and Warriors fans).  Still, I hope readers will indulge a brief comparison of what I think “The Black Mamba” and great agents share in common and questions they might ask:

  •  Does your agency demand excellence from your "teammates"?
  •  How many hours per day or week do you commit to practice? 
  • How often does your agency work on fixing weaknesses in your game?
  • Are your customers also your fans?

While the game of basketball has not changed too much over the past five years, our industry has radically changed and agents need to possess new skills and continually improve their game if excellence is truly the goal. There are only 446 active players in the NBA. Like these elite athletes, great agents work harder - to do more than just stay in the game. They are obsessed with winning, constantly challenging their limits and finding new levels of greatness.
CAHU Pres and LAAHU Past-Pres and CAHU Member of Year,
Dede Kennedy-Simington at the Staples Center being interviewed by CBS News about Kobe’s retirement.
For professional agents and athletes, the competition is fierce. The best competitors commit more hours of preparation and dedicated to setting higher standards and being remembered for being among the very best. I believe that’s the role CAHU serves. Consider us your training camp or practice clinic to help sharpen your skills and be more prepared than the rest. I’ve had the privilege of being mentored by Hall of Fame insurance professionals, and currently working with some All Star-caliber professionals. I am also encouraged by the rising stars; the newer agents who will lead the next generation of agents. These new agents entered the game using the latest tools and strategies and elevating their game in impressive ways.

I too want to be remembered for contributing to our industry and helping agents elevate their game through their CAHU membership. I am very proud to be part of a team (the CAHU board and our 13 local chapters) of dedicated professionals who volunteer so much of their time in service to agents and the customers we serve. Wanna play? Please consider joining your local board or serving on a committee!  
(Why basketball?  I wrote this while watching Game 5 of the NBA Playoffs… Go Warriors!)

Michael Lujan, RHU, CHRS
CAHU President





Posted by at