ACA Express -vs- HealthSherpa

[TwoLabs]

I just finished a renewal on Sherpa. I prefer the reliability of ACAExpress, but still using Sherpa for some because that's where 75% of my book is, I have some referral credits still saved up, and the price difference.

The renewal process was giving me a hard time initially. I would click renew, choose the plan, redirect to hc.gov, find the app, and on the landing page after finding the app there would be an error message at the bottom in red. However, the 2017 app was already done apparently (couldn't get the eligiblity results to load). So I just clicked "return to enrollment website". I didn't do anything at all in hc.gov just came right back to HS and finished it up.

 

[KennyWest]

I have received emails and calls from quite a few who have used HealthSherpa prior after we announced the ability to import your book of business from them into ACAExpress. Used them in the past but not yet setup an account with ACAExpess?

How about your first 5 enrollments for FREE? Just create a new profile at ACAExpress and upload your export from them to us and we will put five free enrollments in your profile!

See other post titled:
Import Your HS Book of Business & Get 5 Free Enrollments...

 

[nliang86]

Hello all!

Apologies for the long delay in posts. I wanted to highlight some key points for this OEP:

1) HealthSherpa remains the #1 solution for agents, including many national agencies. Agents have enrolled over 600,000 members on HS at this point.

2) We have deployed streamlined renewals for this OEP - click "Renew", requote, update eligibility and finish. For most agents, this means little to no data entry, except for finding the consumer's application on HC.gov.

3) Our consumer facing flow is the best on the market - we've optimized it over 4 OEPs and millions of shoppers. You will get more leads and enrollments than with any other flow.

4) With the exception of some hiccups due to HC.gov API uptime, we are rock solid for this OEP, with over 3,000 agents per day using the system to enroll consumers.

5) We've built a dedicated support team of 10 representatives for agents. Every call, email and chat will get a response.

6) Besides the free, minimal feature WBE's, we are the most affordable option out there @ $5 per app. We also feature free apps for various carriers, such as Molina. No contracts, pesky salespeople or marketing speak - you will spend the least with HealthSherpa.

We are working hard to improve the service, and take all feedback seriously - please reach out to me directly @ ning AT healthsherpa.com, or the team @ agent_support AT healthsherpa.com.

We wish everyone a successful OEP, and will watch the forums closely going forward and get back to questions / comments ASAP.

Thanks,
Ning

p.s. if you haven't tried us out yet, you can do so at healthsherpa.com/agents/features . The first 5 apps are free!

 

[Chazm]

I just went through two apps from beginning to end on a 2nd gen iPad, one through Client Facing Site and the other through Agent Dashboard.

Granted a couple screens were slow to draw, though not 100% sure if due to the iPad being so slow or not, but it did work for me.

It's an iPad Air 2. Tried it on my iPhone 6 Plus too and no dice. The menu button doesn't even do anything when you click it. Oh well.

 

[WiscBroker]

Has anyone else had a problem with renewals? I keep running into seeing a different subsidy and net premium amount from the initial Sherpa page and then once it cycles through Healthcare.gov it comes back to finish enrollment the premium is a lot lower. I am telling people it probably is a glitch and to expect the higher premium, but I honestly don't know what is going on.

I've also had issues with renewals where if the client's income is decreasing next year, the only way to change it is to hit Access instead of Renewal, and then I cannot get the correct subsidy either. In fact, I cannot even finish the enrollment- it just gets stuck. I've messaged Sherpa support, they responded, but so far no fix and I have a client's app in limbo.

Anyone else want to chime in?

 

[HealthGuy]

Renewal numbers all over the place...the redirect back to sherpa after eligibility letter generated only works half the time, this chit sucks.

 

[nliang86]

There were some issues on renewals earlier this week due to the data being sent back to us from HC.gov - @HealthGuy and and @WiscBroker, if you PM me (or email me at ning AT healthsherpa.com) I can investigate today and get it resolved. For updating income, we've defaulted the Renew view to open in "Editing" mode so that you can update the income / household there.

If the return from HC.gov is not working, this is usually an HC.gov issue - we're attempting to call the HC.gov API for app details, and their API is timing out. This can be addressed by going back into HC.gov and hitting "Return to Enrollment Website" again.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and please let us know if there are any more issues. We'll be watching the forums and emails all day long.

 

[kgmom219]

Sherp link is going to the wrong network page for BCBSTX. Just heads up, because so far I have had to burst the bubble for 3 people who thought they could get the BCBS PPO again. Ugh.

 

[nliang86]

The network URLs for BCBS TX HMO should be correct now, apologies for the issue.

 

[SamIam]

I just did my first app with ACA Express since last open enrollment. What's the point of using them or Healthsherpa if we still have to go through healthcare.gov. Am I missing something?