Last week’s edition of News and Views provided information on efforts by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to include agent and broker information on the federal exchange website. Unfortunately, the HHS continues to have problems implementing this effort and at this time, individual agencies are not showing up on the “Find Local Help” page when a consumer types in zip codes to look for them.

Big “I” staff participated in a call with HHS staff to discuss this issue and others on Friday. The agency is working to address this as soon as possible but has not provided an estimated timeline.

At the urging of the Big “I”, the HHS is also considering a couple of functional changes to the ”Find Local Help” page. For instance, users must currently toggle from “no” to “yes” in order to display agent and broker results alongside navigators and assisters. The Big “I” requested the removal of that step so agents and broker results automatically show up alongside navigators and assisters.

The Big “I” also urged the HHS to make changes to the language on the left side of the “Find Local Help” page that appears when users scroll over the word “Agent.” That language currently says, “An agent or broker is a person or business who can help you apply for help paying for coverage and enroll you in a Qualified Health Plan (QHP) through the Marketplace. They can make specific recommendations about which plan you should enroll in. They’re also licensed and regulated by states and typically get payments, or commissions, from health insurers for enrolling a consumer into an issuer’s plans. Some agents and brokers may only be able to sell plans from specific health insurers.”

The Big “I” is concerned that this statement could mislead people into thinking using an agent could add to consumer costs. The HHS has said this is only a draft and would consider making changes but did not provide a timeline for potentially updating the statement.

Wyatt Stewart is Big “I” director of federal government affairs.