| Welcome |
|
Breaking News: Senate Complement to H.R. 1206 Coming Soon Recently, at NAHU’s 22nd Annual Capitol Conference, NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein announced that at least three bipartisan senators, Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Johnny Isakson (D-GA) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) will introduce legislation to help protect health insurance agent and broker jobs by excluding independent health insurance producer compensation from the medical loss ratio (MLR) requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The new bill will be officially filed within the next week, and will be a strong complement to H.R. 1206, currently pending in the House. The new legislation will not be identical to H.R. 1206, but instead will include minor targeted improvements based on the market’s response to the MLR requirements over the past year. The lead co-sponsors of H.R. 1206, Congressmen Mike Rogers (R-MI) and John Barrow (D-GA), have indicated their support for the updated Senate measure. The announcement was extremely well timed, as during the same meeting the Director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Steve Larsen, announced that the agency has concluded that there is no legal way that it could provide regulatory relief to agents and brokers on the MLR. However, he went on to tell meeting attendees that HHS believes “the success of exchanges depends on a strong and active role from agents and brokers.” NAHU has always believed that a legislative solution would the most permanent and effective way of solving the economic problems that the MLR is causing for both insurance agents and brokers and health insurance consumers nationwide. We are thrilled that we will have bipartisan bills in both chambers of Congress in the near-term future, and we look forward towards their expedient passage. Before the start of Capitol Conference, H.R. 1206 had 151 bipartisan co-sponsors. Due to the amazing work NAHU members did pounding the pavement and visiting Capitol Hill offices this week, we believe we will soon add at least 20 more. We also believe that our members will convince many more senators to support the Senate complement to H.R. 1206 from the get-go. If you would like to help, please contact your representative and senators today. Ask your representatives to sign on to H.R. 1206 if they haven’t already, and ask your senators to express their support for the efforts of Senators Landrieu, Isakson and Nelson by becoming original co-sponsors to their measure. Thank you for your continued support of NAHU and your industry. If you have any questions about our legislative efforts, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . ---------- CSAHU Presidents Report on the NAHU 2011 Capitol Conference "Change is inevitable, but growth is an option." This was the most well attended Capitol Conference ever, 750 members from across the USA. The consensus of your 15 members who attended from Colorado is that we are cautiously optimistic that many of the provisions that negatively impact you and your clients will be either modified or repealed. For example: Congressman Andrews, (D) New Jersey publicly stated that he believes in the value offering of health insurance agents and that he understand and appreciates what you do, that you help consumers make informed and educated decisions and help solve problems for clients. Congressman Andrews then went on to explain how he thinks he and NAHU can work together to effect change and improve outcomes and move forward. 2) In regards to the MLR issue, Congressman Andrews stated “that agents should count toward the medical side (80% or 85%), not the administration (15% or 20%) side of the equation. Brokers are an integral component in helping to keep health care cost down and are a saver of both time and money.” He is working to have legislation drafted that says that. 3) Clean up tax credits for small businesses, for the family of business owners. “Spouses or children of the owner don't count toward the tax credits, but a competitor who hires outside the family can claim those credits. This inequity needs to be addressed and fixed.” 4) We need to work together on patient responsibility and wellness, one of the most important components of HR3590 as the main driver (70%) of health care cost is poor lifestyle choices by individuals. He does not want to create a nanny state but also does not want society to pay for someone else's bad behavior. He believes in ability of carriers to rate up for smoking and that the law should continue to reflect this. The audience asked him if he supports subsidies both in and out of the exchange. He does support this as he believes it will drive increased enrollment in all health insurance plans. He believes in an employer based market. Senator Mike Enzi, (R) of Wyoming considers himself to be our lobbyist in the Senate. He is on the budget committee, and is one of two accountants in the Senate. He too supports a revised MLR bill. His advice to us is to continue making noise to let Congressional leadership know what needs to be changed and that emails do make a difference. We heard over and over from both Congressional leaders and their staff as to how strong a lobby organization NAHU is on the hill, and how well respected NAHU is from both sides of the aisle. On Tuesday afternoon the 15 CO attendees broke up into small groups and met with the staff of Senators Udall (D) and Bennett (D). Both asked many questions and took copious notes. They were quite respectful as was Pearlmutter (D). We explained to them how the MLR rules hurt not only agents but how it impacts clients with reduced service as a result of fewer agents and home office employees, and how many jobs are being lost due to health care reform. We also explained why agents need to be involved in the Exchanges and that anyone selling in Exchange should be licensed, have E & O and meet CE requirements. In addition we met with the staff of Congresspersons Pollis (D), Degette (D), Lamborn (R), Gardner (R), Tipton (R), Coffman (R). To sum it up, the Colorado State AHU contingent believes that with the results of November’s election, that the tide is beginning to turn. We feel that most in Congress now understand how much PPACA needs to be tweaked, including repeal of specific provisions, such as the 1099 and h105 discrimination rules. Stay tuned, but rest assured that NAHU staff and leaders are working hard to protect your best interest and to turn the tide of 2010. |
|
|
CSAHU qualifies for 2011 Silver Seal CertificationNAHU's Chapter Certification Program is an ongoing program that recognizes excelling chapters through out the year. Recognition is based on criteria satisfaction in a variety of areas. To earn the Silver Seal Certification chapters must satisfy at least six of nine criteria. |
