Health Care Summit Recap
The CAHU Board of Directors is
dedicated to providing value to its members in a variety of ways, and one of
the most important has been our annual Health Care Summit, which was held on
September 12-14 in Universal City. The
event is designed to be educational as it gives members and sponsors an
opportunity to share information and it contains a variety of professional
development sessions and industry presentations. For those who missed this event, here is a
recap of the Summit, my impressions of it, and thoughts on future events.
On September 12, we had our
monthly Board meeting followed by the CAHU Vanguard Council’s Casino Night,
which was a great success. We had 36 participants
in the Texas hold-em poker tournament and over 100 attending the event, playing
roulette and black jack. Everyone
enjoyed it.
The next day included a three hour
TechExpo, designed to give emerging technology an opportunity to demonstrate
its solutions to health insurance issues.
This year each presentation was longer so that each vendor was able to
present more information. It is a
challenge for agents to continue to be current in technological advances in the
health insurance industry, so this part of our program provided valuable
information about current technical choices.
Although information about health insurance industry technology is
available through a variety of sources, our event included a wide array of tech
presentations which gave attendees an opportunity to compare solutions.
At the Summit members can attend
several presentations that highlight areas of our industry. This year the topics included a timely panel
on the individual marketplace, moderated by CAHU Immediate Past President
Michael Lujan and were Covered California Kirk Whelan, Steve Shearer from
Anthem, and agent George Balteria; a
presentation that explored the benefits of offering a telehealth program presented
by Jo Ann Vernon of freshbenies; an engaging and well received presentation by
Los Angeles AHU chapter member Naama Pozniak on the benefits of yoga and
meditation; and a comprehensive review
of the history of California healthcare regulations presented by CAHU Past
President Patrick Burns.
The day concluded with a CAHU PAC
reception where members were encouraged to support CAHU’s political activities. We were able to raise more than $25,000, the most
we’ve collected at a CAHU event. Many thanks to our supporters!
The final day’s schedule included
an update by CAHU’s legislative advocates Michael Belote and Julianne Broyles,
on issues ranging from legislation impacting our industry to thoughts on the
upcoming election. This was followed by
our keynote presentation by Karen Kirkpatrick on issues facing the brokerage
agency. Karen had some great ideas about
how to analyze agency operations in light of current industry challenges. In the afternoon, the CAHU Executive Board
made presentations in a town hall format, and the day ended with a carrier
panel that provided an interesting approach to broker operations from the
carrier perspective.
My impression is that the Summit
was a success. We tried some new things, such as the yoga and meditation
session, which was a big hit, and I thank all the people who made this a
successful event. The Board will review the format of the next Summit
and, under the leadership of President Elect Stephanie Berger, look for ways to
continue to provide an engaging event.
And you can help. For those who attended the Health Care Summit,
please contact your chapter leaders to convey the positives and negatives. For those who did not attend, I encourage you
to put it on your calendar for next September.
It will be held at Pala Resort near San Diego, where the facilities will
enable us to offer an expanded menu of professional and educational choices.
A very important last
comment. The issue of individual market
compensation is one of the most important facing brokers, and we are doing what
we can to improve the situation. Please
continue to send your comments in to us and your chapter leaders – it provides
valuable information for us to use to make our case.
Thank you for your membership.
Questions or Comments:
comments@cahu.org