Kevin Knauss: Health, History, Travel, Insurance
Posts related to health insurance agents in California working with Covered California, small groups, and the different health plans. Also known as brokers.
Certified Insurance Agent John Dickey, who is already taking Covered California to small claims court, is now in conversations with a Southern California law firm to potentially file a class action lawsuit against Covered California on behalf of agents who suffered a loss of income because of the numerous problems during open enrollment for 2014. Dickey’s […]
Covered California solidified its role as a big marketing machine for health insurance by announcing a contest to promote its Small Business Health Option Program or SHOP. The top producer of quotes for the Covered California small group health plans will win 100 hours of telemarketing according a sales seminar slide shown during their seventh sales […]
A major software upgrade to the Covered California online enrollment website has suspended the ability to add a new baby or household member to a family plan until November 4th. This black out period for babies or adoptions applies to current consumers in a Covered California health. The ability to add new household members will […]
Consumers who purchased a health plan through Covered California 2014 may lose their monthly tax credit in 2015 if they don’t give permission to allow the state exchange to verify their income through the federal hub. The sudden loss of the Advance Premium Tax Credit in 2015 applies to consumers who did not give Covered […]
Insurance agents are uniting to bash and defeat Prop. 45, the California ballot initiative that would give the Insurance Commission the power to deny excessive health insurance premium rate increases. The latest campaign rhetoric by agents makes Prop. 45 sound worse than the Affordable Care Act. This organized opposition to Prop. 45 only serves to […]
At the September Covered California Board meeting the members voted to adopt voter registration regulations that will mandate that Certified Enrollment Counselors (CEC) and Certified Insurance Agents (CIA) offer voter registration assistance to individuals that are applying for health insurance through the state exchange. In essence, CECs and CIA will now be doing volunteer work […]
On August 4th Covered California rolled out another enhancement to their CalHEERS program called “identity proofing”. Before an account holder, Covered California customer service representative (CSR) or Certified Insurance Agent can either Report a Change or create a new enrollment for a health plan, the primary applicant’s identity must be verified. This “Identity Proofing”, as it […]
Covered California has been listed as a Gold sponsor of the California Association of Health Underwriters (CAHU). In late 2009 CAHU was very vocal that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act should not be passed by congress. A CAHU Gold sponsorship costs approximately $10,000 according to their website. It would be interesting to know what Covered California believes it is getting for the sponsorship?
As the date for the ACA open enrollment approached, most health insurance agents were nervous about what to expect and what role they might play in helping clients enroll in the new health plans. This anxiety was enhanced by the cold shoulder given them by Covered California and the health insurance companies in terms of training and information. At the end of open enrollment, many agents felt as if they had been abandoned by the carriers and Covered California while trying to help their clients. This has left some agents wondering if now is the time to organize into a guild and work for better training, enrollment tools and fair compensation for the assistance they provide to their clients.
To be honest, I was fully prepared to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the Blue Shield of California corporate offices in El Dorado Hills. Numerous phone calls and emails on behalf of a client who had made his monthly premiums like clockwork, only to have his health insurance cancel, resulted in hollow promises and no action by Blue Shield to resolve the billing and cancellation nightmare. My last hope to help restore the health insurance for my long distance truck driving client was to rattle the corporate cage of the carrier.
