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    Are you teaching your kids the business?

    February 21, 2019
    Most of us didn’t grow up wanting to be insurance agents. Instead, the majority of insurance professionals found their way into the business by accident. There are a million stories, but what we’ve heard again and again from brokers across the country is that 1) they sort of stumbled into the industry, 2) now that they’re here, they really like it and don’t want to leave, and 3) they wish they had started when they were younger.
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    Don’t Give Clients Options, Give Them Guidance

    February 14, 2019
    There’s been a trend in the insurance industry over the past few years. Brokers across the country have invested in technology that allows them to quickly and easily provide quotes to clients in an “apples to apples” format so that the client can make a buying decision, often without any additional input from the agent. Many agents even have quote engines on their website that allow clients to run the quotes and apply for coverage on their own without ever talking with the broker. With today’s tools, brokers can literally sell insurance in their sleep.
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    CVS Acquisition of Aetna is Complete

    February 4, 2019
    On January 5 of last year, we published an article about the proposed merger between CVS Health and Aetna. One year later, the acquisition of Aetna by CVS has been finalized and the two companies are now one.
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    A Creative Way to get Individual Clients

    February 1, 2019
    One thing we learned from the 2019 open enrollment period is that the government’s outreach efforts are coming up short. Marketplace enrollment was down this year, and that corresponds with a huge 90 percent reduction in the marketing budget for Healthcare.gov.
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    Understanding Facility Copayments

    January 24, 2019
    Most of us understand what a copayment is, right? It’s a fixed dollar amount that the insured pays for certain covered services on a health plan before benefits are paid by the plan. Usually, but not always, benefits that apply these copayments, or copays for short, are paid before the calendar-year deductible has been met and after the copay has been paid by the insured. Some HSA-qualified plans, though, do have copayments for prescriptions that kick in after the deductible has been met.
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    Surprise Medical Bills

    January 18, 2019
    Not everyone likes surprises. And not all surprises are good. Take surprise medical bills, for instance—it seems that nobody is happy to receive one of those in the mail. Unfortunately, they’re more and more common these days, and that means you should prepare your clients in case they receive a surprise bill following a medical procedure.
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    A different way to think about HSAs

    January 4, 2019
    A couple questions:
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    Medicare Plan F is Being Eliminated

    December 27, 2018
    If you sell Medicare supplements, you may have heard that Medigap plans C and F are being eliminated in 2020. Since that’s just over a year away, and because Medigap Plan F is the most popular Medicare supplement plan, you’ll probably start getting some questions from your Medicare-eligible (and near-eligible) clients. Here are a few short-and-sweet answers to some of the more common questions.
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    What the Mid-Terms Mean for the Health Insurance Debate

    December 21, 2018
    The 2018 mid-term election is over, and, as many expected, Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. The incumbent party normally loses seats in the mid-terms, making the last two years of a President’s four-year term a bit more challenging than the first two. For the first time in the Trump presidency, there will be a divided congress. This means one of two things: 1) the two sides will work together and pass legislation on a bi-partisan basis, or 2) very little will get done from a legislative standpoint. Most are putting their money on the second option—there doesn’t seem to be much appetite for compromise inside the Beltway right now.
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    Do you create employee packets for your group clients?

    December 14, 2018
    These days, employee communication is more important than ever. Obviously, the government requires that certain information be communicated and notices be provided to employees, but, even without that requirement, it’s critically important that employees understand their benefits. If they don’t, they won’t appreciate them, and the employer will not get the return on investment he or she was hoping for by offering benefits in the first place.
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