The Italy CEs
Thanks for signing up for The Italy CEs! My favorite singer of all time is…
Browsing: Blog
Consumerism Tools: Tell Your Clients to Eat Their Vegetables
Consumer tools are a lot like the vegetables that kids may not want but most definitely need. Nobody really wants a consumer-directed health plan. Prior to the deductible, people have to pay the contracted price for healthcare services and are asked to “shop around” and make better decisions, but right now there’s no good way to compare those options. To make today’s plan designs a little more palatable to employees and to make sure they don’t go without needed care, we have to provide them and their family members with some tools and some alternatives.
What happened to the GOP health care bill? And what happens now?
It was about as close as you can get to a sure thing in politics. But on March 24, after 18 days of in-fighting among House GOP members, President Trump and Speaker Ryan made the decision to pull the American Health Care Act, the reconciliation bill that would have done away with the individual and employer mandates, the individual and small group tax credits, expanded Medicaid, and billions of dollars’ worth of taxes. So what in the world happened? And what can we expect to happen next?
Health Savings Accounts Could Soon Be Changing
Health Savings Accounts have been around since 2004 and, aside from a few tweaks along the way and an annual adjustment for inflation, are pretty much the same as they were when they were first introduced. That could soon be changing, though. Nearly every major proposal to repeal and replace the ACA—as well as several recently filed bills—include multiple suggestions to improve and expand HSAs.
Donald Trump’s Healthcare Proposal from his Feb. 28th Address to Congress
On February 28, President Trump addressed both sessions of Congress on national TV. Here are the five proposals he offered as a replacement to Obamacare.
Trump Takes Office, Begins Killing ACA
Shortly after being sworn in as the nation’s 45th president, Donald Trump swung by his new office at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to hang the drapes and sign a few executive orders. Among them was one instructing federal regulators to take steps to ease the burdens of Obamacare.
EpiPens, Drug Pricing, and Consumerism
In a recent post about the ongoing EpiPen pricing saga, I suggested that a case study might be unfolding before our eyes: for the first time I can remember, “consumerism” actually seems to be influencing health care prices. This is part two of that story.
Cures Act Legalizes Defined Contribution for Individual Plans
Today, President Obama signs the 21st Century Cures Act into law and in doing so legalizes “qualified small employer HRAs.” This is a battle we’ve been fighting in the insurance industry for at least the last decade, and as of today, Dec. 13, 2016, defined contribution for individual plans is finally legal.
Small Employers Will Soon Embrace Premium Reimbursement HRAs
With the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act small employers will be able to establish Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) to provide Premium Reimbursements for their employees’ Individual Health Insurance Plans beginning January 1, 2017. President Obama is ending his service with a grand finale.
2017 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles Announced
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the 2017 premiums for the Medicare inpatient hospital (Part A) and physician and outpatient hospital services (Part B) programs.
The election is over. What happens now?
As we all wake up to this strange new post-election world, two things seem certain: 1) Very few, if any, of us saw this coming. 2) This changes everything.
If you want to DIFFERENTIATE yourself, you must do something DIFFERENT
This is such a simple idea that I don’t want to clutter it up with a lot of words. So here are just a few quick points that should help you apply it to your business.
The 2016 Presidential Election – My Predictions
I was confident that, one month before Election Day, we’d have a pretty good idea who our next president will be and how his or her proposals will affect the health insurance industry. Boy was I wrong.
Will EpiPen Start a Health Care Revolution?
For years, insurance experts have used LASIK surgery as proof that “consumerism” in health care…
Your Clients Aren’t Going to Ask!
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: “This is a great product. If any of my clients ask about it, I’ll be sure to recommend you.” For many brokers, this is a standard response when they learn about a new solution or a new strategy. Unfortunately, most people don’t understand insurance, so they’re probably not going to ask about a solution they don’t even know exists.
Here’s an easy way to become a hero
Everybody loves a hero—a person who does something remarkable and completely unselfish and then afterwards, when applauded for his or her efforts, humbly says, “I just did what anyone would do.” The truth is, not everyone acts heroically, even when it costs nothing and there’s no risk in doing so. Hopefully that will change after you read this article.
Small employers may need to change effective date for a THIRD time
Here we go again… For the third time in three years, small employers may once again need to change their renewal date. That’s because CMS just extended the timeframe for transitional or “grandmothered” plans a little bit longer.
5 Ways Your Health Insurance Will Impact Your Taxes
It’s officially tax season, so this is a great time to review the ways your health insurance—or lack of health insurance—could impact your tax return.
What can we expect in 2016?
As we near the end of the open enrollment season and begin another calendar year, it is important to look ahead and try to predict what will happen. It’s the only way we can properly advise our clients and it’s also the best way to grow our business. So I thought I’d peer into my crystal ball and tell you what I see.
Is this the beginning of the end for the ACA?
Let’s face it, our health insurance system was broken long before the ACA. Something had to be done. But is it working?
The 5 Cs of Insurance Sales
We all learned about the 3 Rs in grade school. And those of us who took business classes in college learned about the 4 Ps of marketing. In this article, I’ll introduce a new success strategy for agents and brokers: the 5 Cs of insurance sales.
New Defined Contribution Bill Resurrects a Dead Issue
For years, insurance agents have debated whether employers could legally reimburse employees on a pre-tax basis for health insurance purchased in the individual market. A new bill would give this strategy the green light.
King v. Burwell – here’s what the Supreme Court said
Get the decision straight from the horse’s mouth. Here’s the executive summary of the Supreme Court’s opinion along with an excerpt from Scalia’s dissent.
Will the ACA be overturned?
For anyone who’d like a quick tutorial of the King v. Burwell Supreme Court case (or who needs to explain it to their clients), here it is in layman’s terms…
361 Marketing Ideas for Your Agency
Have you ever had a really great idea only to Google it and find out you weren’t the first to think of it? Most of us have, and it’s really disappointing. There is some good news, though.
How to Sell Health Insurance
As agents, our job is to make sure our clients are actually getting something for all the money they’re spending. Here are a few tips.
Happy Birthday ACA!!
The Affordable Care Act turns five years old today. On such a momentous occasion, it only seems appropriate to take a look back – and a look forward. The truth is that we’ve come a very long way in the past five years, but we still don’t have all the bugs worked out, and many believe we never will. Nonetheless, our clients need help, so we must continue to search for both short-term fixes and longer-term solutions.