A Healthy Future

The Big “I” held its annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., in mid-April. For those of you who attended, I hope your visits to Capitol Hill were successful. Your executive committee and board of directors can’t thank you enough for taking time away from your agencies to help educate members of Congress on our industry and the important role we play in protecting individuals and businesses. By going to the Hill, we personalize the issues that are important to us and the insurance industry. And there is no issue that is more personal to me and the life of my agency than health insurance.

While agent licensing reform, TRIA and taxes were front and center at the conference in our conversations with lawmakers, you might have noticed that discussions on health care were not as prominent. But don’t mistake that absence from the top billing as a sign that the Big “I” is not actively working on this issue.

A full 43% of my agency’s business is comprised of employee benefits and health insurance. Our agency feels the negative effect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act every day. But as much as we wish we could change it, PPACA is the law of the land, and it has moved from the legislative to the regulatory phase. While the fight to preserve the important consumer protection role that agents play in health insurance delivery is no longer being debated in the halls of Congress, that doesn’t mean there aren’t important issues on the table as the law is implemented.

Our Big “I” Health Care Task Force has directed staff to focus efforts on these implementation issues, including providing clarity around the “navigator” role. The new law in Iowa, mentioned at the Legislative Conference this year when the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa received the Herndon Award for Excellence in state association advocacy, is an example of what we need to work for in every state. The law addresses qualifications and activities of health insurance navigators and subjects navigators to the jurisdiction and oversight of state regulators. It requires navigators to obtain licenses, complete a training program, pass an examination, satisfy a financial responsibility requirement and comply with applicable state law. The statute also limits the activities that navigators may engage in and draws a bright line between the activities of navigators and insurance agents and brokers.

This law is an example of what the Big “I” wants to see in every state. We want to make sure there is a level playing field for everyone. We don’t want navigators performing the duties of an agent—this is a consumer protection issue, first and foremost. Your government affairs team is fighting to make sure agents have a true and viable business role and are fairly compensated for the work they will do in the exchanges.

While the Big “I” still supports eliminating agent commissions from medical loss ratios and there are some proposals on the table to do so, the association is not limiting its action to hoping for repeal. Because of the current MLR rules, we need to ensure that agents will have fair compensation. To that end, we are now starting to work in some states to allow agents to charge a fee for their services in addition to receiving commission, as long as that fee is totally disclosed and transparent.

The Big “I” will continue to work with our state associations and with HHS, state insurance departments and umbrella groups such as the NAIC and NCOIL to try to limit the negative impact on agents as the rollout of the law continues.

I consider it a great honor to serve you. I am so blessed to be able to represent you as I travel across this country to your state and many others. I truly believe there has never been a better time for me or my 31-year-old son Jake to be a Trusted Choice® independent agent! Our opportunities to succeed are endless, and I look forward to many more years of success for the independent agency system and the Big “I.” Thank you, and God bless each of you.