gbac APG Association Private Marketplace - Insurance Broker Training

Transcription

1 gbac APG Association Private Marketplace - Insurance Broker Training The New England Fuel Institute and the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association have decided to bring a powerful new employee benefits management tool to its members through the NEFI Employee Benefits Marketplace. To do this and help members, our member's insurance brokers need to be prepared to know how to put our member's business in our marketplace. Your Members and Their Insurance Brokers Beginning in April of this year, we informed you of what we were learning as a result of two association marketplaces in Connecticut opening their health insurance and employee benefit marketplaces, and what we've learned elsewhere around the country. We learned that the vast majority of rank & file insurance brokers serving our members were not as prepared as we needed them to be in one or more of three key areas; [a] knowledge of the Affordable Care Act, and [b] knowledge of how to transition a business from defined benefits to defined contribution plans, and [c] knowledge of electronic marketplaces. If our brokers don't know how to put our member's business in our marketplace then we can't save our members time or money. Because the success of our marketplace and rests on our member's brokers knowing all three of these areas well, gbac decided to bring Nelson Griswold and Scott Cantrell of Bottom Line Solutions in to develop a comprehensive broker training program to fill what is unfortunately an obvious need without which our marketplaces will not be as successful as we need them to be. Saving a small business from a 31% rate hike and avoiding $102,000 in higher benefit costs is why we are bringing these new approaches and our marketplace to our members. "Employee Benefit Advisor," the broker industry publication, announced on June 12th that private employee benefit marketplace enrollment has hit 3 million which is 3 times the previous estimate by Growth is now estimated to go to 9 million by Clearly, we are ahead of the curve in providing your association with a private marketplace. Now, we need to get on with training our brokers to serve our members and deliver the results we reported to you from the case study we shared last week [attached]. Saving a small business from a 31% rate hike and avoiding $102,000 in higher benefit costs is why we are bringing these new approaches and your marketplace to your members. 1 P age gbac Association Practice Group Private Association Health Insurance and Employee Benefit Marketplaces

2 Getting Our Member's Brokers Trained Here is where our marketplace broker training is found >> Send this outline including the link above to our broker community and have our members send their brokers to this place on your marketplace website. The contents of the training modules are attached to this document. Our member brokers will watch an introductory video, then click a link where they can register for training, pay for training and access, and then take the training modules online. This is What Our Broker Members Receive for the Fee They Will Pay to be Trained 1. Access to an exclusive endorsed channel of hundreds of association members and thousands of employees for the broker's small business book development and retention; 2. The ability to use the marketplace for all of the broker's non association business as well; 3. Access to a powerful, electronic marketplace that, were they to engage bswift today, would cost the broker a $30,000 application fee and $250,000 annual commitment; 4. The broker keeps all of the health insurance commissions and split voluntary and ancillary benefit commissions that come with the platform 50/50; 5. Broker can earn a portion of the pepm on a scale related to the number of enrolled that the broker generates; 6. Broker receives comprehensive training including key ACA issues, how to transition an employer from a defined benefits program to a defined contribution program, orientation to the use of the electronic marketplace; 7. Broker joins a network of brokers involved in developing association practice group associationbased business; 8. Upon completing training successfully, the broker signs a broker participation agreement with our ebenefit marketplace and with that, will be good to go serving your members and their other clients with your marketplace. Trained and qualified first! ; 9. Each broker will pay a onetime fee of $5,000. There are hours of training involved here, and finally the remainder for the broker's access to the marketplace for your member's business and non association business as well which amounts to a cost of about 1.7% of what each broker would pay for their own bswift contract. A very good deal. Remind the brokers and members the case study attached is the result we can produce if brokers are prepared and know how to use your marketplace effectively. Contacts for the Program: Scott Cantrell, by at: scott@insurancebottomline.com second at telephone: Nelson Griswold, by at: nelson@insurancebottomline.com second at telephone: P age gbac Association Practice Group Private Association Health Insurance and Employee Benefit Marketplaces

3 Small Businesses Avoid Health Insurance Rate Shock With the CEMA Private Benefits Marketplace IS AVOIDING MASSIVE RATE INCREASES AND CREATING STABILITY FOR YOUR BENEFITS BUDGET WORTH YOUR TIME? When it s time to renew your health insurance, most businesses are finding that their new premium costs are an expensive shock. Double digit rate increases are common. Insurance carrier CEOs say it could get even worse going into Given everything that has happened with the federal Affordable Care Act and new state coverage mandates and how insurance carriers have responded merely tinkering with plan designs will not make things much better. It is time that businesses changed the way we organize, purchase, fund and deliver benefits and that is exactly what we can do for you with our CEMA private benefits marketplace but only if your broker understands how the new world of benefits management is evolving. Don't start by discussing premiums, carriers or plans or rate hikes. The new world of defined contribution plans and electronic marketplaces is here today. And, don t be confused by the federal and state run exchanges ours is very different. Below illustrates an actual renewal process for a small business in Connecticut that has transitioned from the old defined benefits model to a defined contribution plan using a private marketplace just like ours. As a member of the CEMA, your company and your employees can participate in the same experience. AN ACTUAL RENEWAL AND TRANSITION TO DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS MAY, 2014 IN CONNECTICUT A small business with 18 employees was on an Anthem Blue Cross "Gold plan" and faced a large rate increase for the coming year, too large for the company to afford. The company decided to end its defined benefits plan and transition to defined contribution to control its costs while providing great benefits options for its employees. How? The first conversation with a professional benefits advisor, such as gbac (CEMA marketplace manager), is about what the company can afford to spend on benefits. Once the decision is made to go with a private marketplace and defined contribution model, the company does not start by discussing plans, carriers or rates. gbac starts by working with the company to come up with a budget for benefits with which the company is comfortable. So, the company out of the gate exercises control and certainty over its costs. Then and only then, the company decides what benefits, carriers and plans are to be offered to its employees. The company doesn't pick one plan that fits all the company can pick the full range of benefits, carriers and plans from which its employees will choose. Next, the company decides how it will divide up its benefits budget among its employees. It can do that by those who are in executive or management or rank and file roles, or by age banding, or by whether they are an employee, employee with children, employee with a spouse, family and so on. So, your employees will be able to choose what level of benefits are appropriate for them, knowing how much the company will cover and how much it will cost the employee.

4 gbac then meets with the employees to explain their new ability to choose the benefits they want to buy based on what's best for them and their family. Employees are informed of what amount the employer has on account for them in the health insurance and employee benefits marketplace and how the CEMA s private benefits marketplace works. Next, each employee is walked through enrolling for the benefits they want in the marketplace, using the funds the employer has put on account for them. If they spend more than what has been put on account, the balance is paid by the employee through payroll deduction. Finally, the company pays the carriers each month just as it does now. What is paid is based on what the company budgeted plus what has been deducted from the payroll of employees, much the same as it works now. The CEMA marketplace and gbac make it all easy to administer. WHAT DID THIS ACCOMPLISH? the company avoided a large rate hike the company set its own benefits budget the company determined how to divide up its benefits budget among its employees the company decides what benefits, carrier and plan options to offer to its employees the employees were educated about their choices for their own benefits the employees used the marketplace to make their benefit program choices for themselves, becoming informed consumers of benefits for the first time. the employees are happier because they are in charge of making their own benefit choices, rather than having those choices made for them the employees get to purchase ancillary and voluntary benefits beyond health insurance, some of which they have never had a chance to see before, such as vision and dental coverage, and life and disability insurance. The company enjoys the ease of administration of its benefits package. All this can be done with the guidance of a professional benefits advisor, such as gbac or your local broker who is prepared to do this as well. You can avoid the treadmill of endless rate hikes and no choices through the CEMA Private Benefits Marketplace and benefit from gbac s professional advice. You CANNOT get this service from the government exchange because the government exchange doesn't provide this service nor does it provide the breadth of carriers, plans or benefit choices found in the CEMA Marketplace. 1/7th of the US economy has been upended by the Affordable Care Act, by government s regulations and executive orders and how carriers respond. We aren't going to make things easier on members by small measures or tinkering with a few plan design changes. Make sure your broker understands our new private marketplace model and how it can provide a much better solution for you and your employees better yet, make sure you do. If your insurance broker doesn't understand how this defined contribution system works you can refer your broker to the gbac APG broker training program so that can get up to speed. There is much you and your broker will benefit from by being involved in this program! Cost control and certainty with ease of administration for the business. Choice and benefit options for employees. That s the CEMA Private Benefits Marketplace.

5 APG Training Module #1 Specific Content Outline What You Need to Know about the ACA for Your Clients Section One An Overview of Healthcare Reform Video #1 A Brief Description of the Law (5 10 minutes) Video #2 Important Implications for Employers (5 10 minutes) Section Two The Timeline for Healthcare Reform Video #3 A Broad View of the ACA Implementation Timeline (5 10 minutes) Video #4 Critical Dates for Benefits Professionals & Their Employer Clients (5 10 minutes) Section Three Key ACA Issues for Your Clients Video #5 Top Challenges for Employers (5 10 minutes) Video #6 Transforming ACA Challenges into Opportunities (5 10 minutes) Healthcare Reform Tools: The ACA Timeline Cheat Sheet Key Opportunties for Benefits Professionals from the ACA

6 APG Training Module #2 Specific Content Outline Transitioning Employers from Defined Benefits to Defined Contribution Section One The Concept: An Overview of Defined Contribution Video #1 Defining Defined Contribution (5 10 minutes) Video #2 A New Solution to an Old Problem (5 10 minutes) Section Two The Purpose: The Benefits of Defined Contribution to You & Your Clients Video #3 The Benefits of Defined Contribution (5 10 minutes) Video #4 A Defined Contribution Case Study (5 10 minutes) Section Three The Method: Implementing the Defined Contribution Strategy Video #5 The Process Overview (5 10 minutes) Video #6 The Transition to Defined Contribution Steps 1 4 (10 20 minutes) Video #7 The Transition to Defined Contribution Steps 4 8 (10 20 minutes) Video #8 The Transition to Defined Contribution Steps 9 10 (10 20 minutes) The Ten Step DC Transitioning Process 1. Schedule Meeting with Employer 2. Describe the Outcomes of the Approach 3. Explain the Defined Contribution Concept 4. Confirm Agreement on the Concept 5. Determine Current Benefits Spend 6. Identify Benefits to Offer 7. Establish Budget 8. Develop Employee Segmentation Strategy (if needed) 9. Plan Employee Orientation 10. Enroll the Employees into Their Chosen Benefits Bonus Video Defined Contribution FAQs (10 20 minutes) Marketing & Sales Tools Video (10 20 minutes to be added later) The DC Value Proposition Video DC Value Proposition One Sheet Employer Next Steps One Sheet DC Webinar for Employers (includes demo of ebenefits Marketplace)

7 APG Training Module #3 Specific Content Outline The APG Private Exchange Platform ebenefits Marketplace Section One Revealed: The APG Private Exchange Video #1 What Is The APG Private Exchange? (5 10 minutes) Video #2 The Benefits of Leveraging the APG Private Exchange (5 10 minutes) Section Two Integrating the APG Private Exchange Video #3 How the APG Private Exchange Is Utilized for the Employer (5 10 minutes) Video #4 A Demo of the APG Private Exchange: ebenefits Marketplace (5 10 minutes) Section Three Maximizing Your Clients & Attracting New Ones with the APG Private Exchange Video #5 Making the Sale Without Selling (5 10 minutes) Video #6 Your Next Steps (5 10 minutes)