Tuesday, March 16, 2010

National Association of Health Underwriters - Protecting the Consumer's Future


	Client Resource Center Highlights Issues Grassroots Legislative Tools Legislative Tracking Newsletters HUPAC

Latest on Twitter

Follow us @nahudotorg

Daily News Wire

Provided by ProducersWeb.com

Get Health Care Right!

The August congressional recess couldn’t possibly be more important to our industry. Not only do we need to make sure that Congress and President Obama are clear on our views about health reform that actually contains medical care costs, builds on the strengths of the private market and recognizes the value of health insurance agents and brokers, but we also need to make sure that all Americans are clear on these ideas, too. This may seem like a daunting project, but we need to get health care reform right! To make it easy on you, we have broken things down into one simple grassroots task a day. We are hoping that all of our members will do one thing each day of the August recess to work towards health care reform we can all believe in.

There are lots of ways you will be able to keep up with NAHU and our grassroots work. Become a fan of NAHU on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter. You can also read our blog for more information. Updates on the grassroots task of the day and the fact of the day will also appear in the NAHU section of your daily NAHU Newswire. We will also be launching a new website geared at employer clients and the general public that you can refer people to in order to show support for private-market health reform efforts.

Share on Facebook

Operation Shout!

It is especially important during times of national health care debate to stay in contact with your legislators. Click here to send an Operation Shout! message to your Congressmen.

Health Care Facts

Under H.R. 3200, if a family or individual does not obtain qualified health insurance, they will be subject to a tax penalty equal to 2.5% of the family’s adjusted gross income. .

H.R. 3200 would offer a subsidy to families with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level to purchase health insurance coverage but ONLY through the exchange. The subsidy would not be offered to help families purchase health insurance outside of the exchange (such as through their employers).

Although the Senate HELP public plan will negotiate rates, those rates cannot, by law, exceed the average rates paid by health insurance issuers participating in the exchange.

H.R. 3200 has a new $540 billion surtax that applies to small businesses owners who file as individuals.

A health insurance cooperative is not a new concept. Many were founded in the '40s and '50s and most are now defunct.

According to a recent survey, consumers who purchased individual medical insurance through an agent were significantly more satisfied in regard to how easy it was to understand their options and choose a plan that gave them the best coverage tailored to their needs than those who purchased online.

According to a recent survey, 91% of consumers who purchased individual medical insurance through an agent bought the plan their agent recommended.

According to a recent survey of consumers who purchased individual medical insurance, 64% of those who bought through agents used the word “helpful” to describe their experiences while only 36% of online purchasers used this term.

According to a recent survey of consumers who purchased individual medical insurance, 31% of those who shopped for insurance online described the experience as “time-consuming.”

According to a recent survey of consumers who purchased individual medical insurance, after being presented with information on how agents can help, and advised that purchasing through an agent does not increase their costs, nearly one out of four of those who purchased online reported that, if they were going to purchase IM insurance today, they would buy it through an agent.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the costs of H.R. 3200 over 10 years to exceed $1 trillion--but the costs aren't projected to end there. CBO also says that “relative to current law, the proposal would probably generate substantial increases in federal budget deficits during the decade beyond the current 10-year budget window.”

Under H.R. 3220, most employers will be mandated to provide health benefits to all of their employees and include specific benefits with limited cost-sharing for employees. Employers will also have to contribute specific amounts towards their employee premiums (between 60 and 72.5% depending on the proposal and potentially up to 60% of dependent premiums).

The President and Democrats in Congress insist that their bills will let you keep the plan you have. However, after 5 years, new government rules will apply to all plans, overseen by the new Health Choices Administration.

Under the proposed employer mandate provisions, most employers that don't offer benefits will have to pay steep penalties, ranging from $750 per full-time employee and $375 per part-time employee according to the Senate bill to a 2-8% additional payroll tax according to the House plan.

Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) which covers members of Congress and all federal workers and their families is not less expensive than other private sector employer coverage. Average annual premiums under the FEHBP for family coverage is about $12,000 per year, nearly identical to private employer coverage.

HR 3200 would reduce Medicare Advantage payments by about $160 billion over a decade, which would force 5 million seniors out of their current coverage.

Federal law already protects over 80% of Americans with pre-existing conditions. It’s only the uninsured and those with individual coverage in some states that need additional protection.

About 88.1 million workers would shift from private employer insurance to the public plan. Lewin Group Independent Analysis of H.R. 3200, 7/28/09

HR 3200 would impose a 2.5% tax on individuals who do not purchase an approved health insurance policy, including individuals making under $250,000 a year.

HR 3200 is funded by a tax surcharge, which would disproportionately impact small business owners and could result in the loss of 5.5 million jobs.

Health Care Topics

Healthy Access

With health care costs at a crisis stage, there is no shortage of sweeping health care reform ideas throughout the nation. No one will argue that reforms need to take place, but the fundamental question is what type of reform do Americans want? The National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) believes the time is right for a solution that controls medical spending and guarantees access to affordable coverage for all Americans. And this can be accomplished without limiting individual’s ability to choose the health plan that best fits their needs and ensures them continued access to the services of independent state-licensed counselors and advocates.

Healthy Access is NAHU’s road map to reform and expanded health insurance coverage in America. Through behavior and lifestyle choices, improving system inefficiencies, fixing cost-shifting discrepancies, guaranteeing access to health care in all states and working towards containing health care costs, NAHU believes America can achieve affordable and accessible health care coverage for all Americans.

We need to make sure that the focus of health care reform is where it belongs--on getting medical care spending under control. Ways that you can do this include:

Sending an Op-Ed piece to your local paper. Use the template here and make your own modifications to customize it. It’s a good idea to contact your local media outlets ahead of time to find out their procedures and space limitations. You can look up contact information for local media outlets here.

Another option is to customize this template and send in a Letter to the Editor. Keeping your letter short and simple is the best way to get it published. If you aren’t sure where to send it, you can look up contact information for local media outlets here.

You can also send an e-mail, call and/or fax your congressional representative to remind him or her where the focus in health care reform should be. Encourage your clients, friends and family to send a message too!

Value of the Agent

For decades, professionally licensed health insurance agents, brokers and consultants have been providing valuable services to individuals and employers. Health insurance agents not only help secure health coverage for their clients, but they also help manage many day-to-day activities including resolving claims disputes, enrollments, terminations, COBRA administration, changes in family/child status, increases in cost of their current health plan and resolving billing problems, just to name a few. As independent professional agents, our clients rely on us to be there for them whenever they need to make decisions that impact their health insurance.

As members of a profession that requires a license and has stringent educational guidelines, agents serve more as advocates for clients than simply sales people. Many health insurance buyers continue to use their agents long after they’ve purchased insurance. If consumer protection is a factor in any measure of health reform, there is no better way to protect the consumer than to have an expert on their side. Professional agents help gain coverage for and service the needs of tens of millions of Americans.

We need to make sure that the focus of health care reform is where it belongs--on getting medical care spending under control. Ways that you can do this include:

Employer Mandate

As Congress considers comprehensive health reform, an employer mandate to provide health insurance coverage should be avoided. A legal mandate to force employers to provide health insurance to their employees, while well-intentioned, would actually hurt American workers and health insurance coverage by decreasing jobs and economic growth. It would also do little to reach the current uninsured population.

Under the proposed bills, employers will be mandated to provide health benefits to all of their employees, even if they already provide comprehensive coverage. The coverage will have to include specific benefits and there will be limited cost-sharing for employees. Plus, employers will have to contribute specific amounts towards their employee premiums (between 60 to 72.5% depending on the proposal and potentially up to 60% of dependent premiums). Employers that don't offer benefits will have to pay steep penalties, ranging from $750 per full-time employee and $375 per part-time employee according to the Senate bill to a 2-8% additional payroll tax according to the House plan. The Senate bill does exempt employers with less than 25 employees, but the House bill applies to all employers with payrolls of $500,000 or more, which could cause wage stagnation and the loss of millions of jobs.

We need to make sure that the focus of health care reform is where it belongs--on getting medical care spending under control. Ways that you can do this include:

Containing Health Care Costs

By far, the greatest access barrier to health insurance coverage in America today is cost. Skyrocketing medical care costs are the key driver in rising health insurance premiums and they are putting the cost of health insurance coverage beyond the reach of many Americans.

Unfortunately, the proposals currently pending before Congress don’t go nearly far enough towards bending the medical care cost curve. While the various bills under consideration do contain some system efficiency improvements, they don’t really scratch the surface in terms of medical care cost containment. And, in fact, by creating many new and costly government programs and mandates, they will actually significantly raise health care costs and spending for not only the federal government, but also for millions of American businesses and private citizens!

We need to make sure that the focus of health care reform is where it belongs--on getting medical care spending under control. Ways that you can do this include:

Content copyright © 1998-2010 National Association of Health Underwriters. All rights reserved.
National Association of Health Underwriters · 2000 North 14th Street, Suite 450 · Arlington, VA 22201
703.276.0220 · fax 703.841.7797 · info@nahu.org