September 6th & 7th
2017 Leaders' & Medicare Connections Conference
Join us on September 6th and 7th for our Medicare Connections and Leaders' Conferences at the Hershey Lodge. You can expect two exciting days of networking with fellow top brokers, all while learning invaluable sales tips from the leading insurance carriers in the market! Register now.
Win more group business? Great how?
Our agent partners have access to unbeatable back office support and the tools they need to win more group business. Read more.
New HealthCare.gov Verification Effort to Start June 23
The federal agency that runs HealthCare.gov has just given insurance agents and brokers more information about how the tough new special enrollment period verification process will really work. Read more.
CMS Overview: Special Enrollment Period Pre-Enrollment Verification (SEPV)
SEPs provide a way for people who lose health insurance or experience other qualifying events during the year to enroll in or change coverage outside of the annual open enrollment period. Read more.
Aetna | New Jersey ACA 2018 Withdrawal Notices
As we announced three weeks ago Aetna has made the decision to withdraw from New Jersey Individual ACA plans as of January 1, 2018. Read more.
Highmark Update - New Cancer Investment Plans
Highmark Health announced today plans to invest more than $200 million over the next two years to further enhance access to leading-edge oncology services in the western Pennsylvania region, as well as central PA, Delaware and West Virginia. Read more.
Connect with Capital
The high-quality benefits and services of the Capital BlueCross family of companies paired with the renowned doctors and hospitals of St. Luke’s University Health Network: with this combination, we bring you Valley Advantage EPO, a plan with a unique level of advantages for your clients and their employees. Read more.
UPMC grabs more central Pa. hospitals
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has agreements to buy Sunbury Community Hospital and Lock Haven Hospital. Read more.
Just Lost Your Job? COBRA May Be Your Best Health Insurance Strategy Now
After losing a job, what's the best strategy for getting insurance? Are Republicans planning to change Medicare benefits as part of their changes to the federal health law? Read more.
Federal actuary: 13M more uninsured under GOP repeal package
The House-passed Obamacare repeal bill would leave 12.6 million more Americans uninsured over the next decade and reduce federal spending by $328 billion, according to an analysis released today by CMS’ Office of the Actuary. Read more.
Iowa's Individual Health Rescue Proposal, Dissected
Iowa has come up with a proposal for stabilizing its individual major medical insurance market in 2018. Read more.
Obamacare Didn’t Destroy Insurance Markets, but It Also Didn’t Fix Them
Most Americans get health insurance from a job or government program, but about 8 percent, or some 22 million people, now buy individual policies under the Affordable Care Act. Insurers began offering these plans in 2014. Read more.
Limiting the employer tax exclusion for healthcare is the wrong idea
The Republicans are looking everywhere for funds to fix healthcare, as well they should. This problem is not an easy one to solve, however. Under the Affordable Care Act, employers were faced with the Cadillac tax. Read more.
Anthem's ACA exit could leave 300,000 without options
Anthem Inc.’s decision to quit Ohio’s Obamacare market will leave 13,000 people without any coverage option under the program next year. Read more.
Why Not Try 'Medicare for All'? Glad You Asked
When arguing about national health care in this country, those favoring some sort of government-led system always come back to one argument. “But everyone loves Medicare,” they say. “If Medicare’s so great, why not expand it to everyone?” Read more.
Senate GOP sees path to ObamaCare repeal
A path is emerging for Senate Republicans to pass their ObamaCare repeal bill, even though there are major obstacles ahead. Read more.
GOP Replacement For Obamacare's Individual Mandate: Worse Than Doing Nothing
Few provisions within Obamacare have proved less popular than the individual mandate, which requires all Americans to secure insurance or pay a fine. Read more.
Report: FTC to advise blocking Walgreens/Rite Aid deal
Rite Aid stock took a hit on Friday after reports emerged that the Federal Trade Commission could be poised to block the chain's acquisition by Walgreens Boots Alliance. Read more.
For the First Time, 45 Counties Could Have No Insurer in the Obamacare Marketplaces
Next year, about 35,000 people buying insurance in Affordable Care Act marketplaces in 45 counties could have no carriers to choose from. Read more.
Nearly 2M fell off Obamacare coverage rolls through mid-March
The number of Americans insured under Obamacare fell by nearly 2 million people between Jan. 31 and mid-March, according to new CMS data that found about 10.3 million still were covered through health law exchanges. Read more.
What employers should do to ensure fiduciary rule compliance
After a number of delays and a series of twists and turns, the rule governing who is and isn’t a fiduciary when it comes to retirement advice went into effect Friday. Read more.
Ex-Medicare head: GOP using 'sabotage, speed and secrecy' to pass ObamaCare repeal
Andy Slavitt, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under former President Barack Obama, penned an op-ed in The Washington Post Saturday that slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for using “sabotage, speed and secrecy” to work on passing the GOP healthcare reform bill in the upper chamber. Read more.
Health care: Push for new reimbursement model is likely to continue
The future of the Affordable Care Act may be up in the air, but regional players agree: one thing that won't be going away is value-based health care. Read more.
CMS Releases Reports on Health Insurance Exchange Enrollment Trends
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published two reports, the Effectuated Enrollment report and The Health Insurance Exchanges Trends report. Read more.
July 25th | 10am EST
How to Enrich Your Medicare Sales with Senior Ancillary
Join URL and George Pelekanos, Regional VP of Sales with Aetna Supplemental Insurance for a seminar at our office on July 25th at 10am. Read more.
ACA/AHCA Update Webinar
Since the passage of the ACA in 2010 and the recent passage of the AHCA through the House it's important to stay informed so you can better serve your clients in the group health and under 65 individual markets. The weekly AHCA webinars are your resource to stay close to the proposed law and to ask questions that may be important to your livelihood and to your clients. Register now.
ACA Update Webinar Archives
Click here to view the archived videos of the ACA Update Webinar.
