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    2022 Cost Sharing Increase is Lower than Expected

    May 28, 2021
    In an April 30 fact sheet, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that the cost-sharing limit for individual and group health plans in 2022 will be $400 lower than initially projected.
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    Blue Cross Blue Shield Settlement – What to Tell Your Clients

    May 20, 2021
    Over the last few days, you may have started to receive calls and emails from clients about the Blue Cross Blue Shield settlement notice that is being sent out, and while you should avoid giving legal advice to your clients about whether they should file a claim or not, it is a good idea to share some basic information with them about the settlement. Current and former Blue Cross Blue Shield clients are receiving notices about the settlement by mail, email, or both right now, and they have a lot of questions.
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    How the COBRA Subsidy Can Boost Individual Sales

    May 14, 2021
    In a recent post, we provided details about the new COBRA and State Continuation subsidy under the American Rescue Plan Act. If you missed it, the subsidy pays 100% of the COBRA or state mini-COBRA premium between April 1 and September 30 for COBRA/mini-COBRA eligible employees and covered family members who’ve lost their group coverage due to a reduction in work hours or an involuntary loss of employment. Click here to read the article.
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    Quick Overview of the ARPA COBRA Subsidy

    April 23, 2021
    If you have group health clients, you’re probably receiving calls from them asking about the new COBRA subsidy created by the American Rescue Plan Act. President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill provides a 100% subsidy for up to six months of the COBRA or state continuation premiums for eligible employees, former employees, and their covered family members. While that’s certainly a good thing for those who qualify, it’s creating headaches for employers and plan administrators. In this post, we’ll try to get you started and help answer some of the most important questions about the subsidy. There’s still some confusion about how this will work, so we won’t be getting too “in the weeds.”
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    The No Surprises Act

    April 9, 2021
    Everybody likes surprises, right? Wrong! Obviously, there are a lot of good surprises in life, but when the surprise involves bad news, it’s not nearly as fun. Take a surprise medical bill, for instance. When a health plan member does everything he or she can to follow the rules, like visiting in-network facilities and getting any required pre-authorizations before a procedure, it’s easy to see why the member would be unhappy when a “surprise bill” shows up in the mail.
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    Halfway Through the SEP

    April 6, 2021
    By now, you’ve certainly heard about—and hopefully you’re taking advantage of—the three-month special enrollment period in the individual market. For those who haven’t paid close attention, here’s a quick summary to get you up to speed.
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    SEP Extended to August 15

    April 2, 2021
    As you probably know, President Biden signed an executive order shortly after being sworn into office creating a three-month special enrollment period in the individual market due to the COVID health emergency so that people who do not have health insurance would have the opportunity to sign up. The SEP began February 15 and was scheduled to end May 15.
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    Four Different Types of Deductibles

    March 18, 2021
    Most people find insurance confusing. For agents, this isn’t a big surprise; we see the confusion on our clients’ faces when we try to explain their options to them, and we regularly hear clients use insurance terms like copay and coinsurance interchangeably.
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    Why You Should Be Selling Life Insurance to Millennials

    February 18, 2021
    Even when nothing’s biting, fishing can be a fun and relaxing activity. We get a chance to be outdoors, and if we go with someone else, the time spent together can be enjoyable. Still, “catching…a bunch of fish,” as Outdoors Weekly points out, “is the main reason that we go fishing.” And to accomplish this goal, we need to find hungry fish. Here’s some advice the magazine provides in a recent article: To consistently catch fish, we first need to find them. However, at times just finding the fish isn’t enough. You’ve got to find the fish that are willing to eat your bait.
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    Don’t Be Afraid to Sell HMOs

    February 4, 2021
    As advisors, our job is to evaluate our client’s situation and make customized recommendations about health insurance and other types of coverage. Unfortunately, some agents are guilty of telling clients what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear; instead of recommending cost-saving solutions that are outside the client’s comfort zone, some advisors adopt a “don’t rock the boat” strategy, narrowing their plan recommendations to those that satisfy their client’s wants but not necessarily their needs.
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