ACAExpress, Pricing, New Features, Etc.

[TxOnline]

We can deal with incorrect APTC's after Open Enrollment.
Right now, we need an engine that helps the client pick the right insurance plan!
I'm willing to pay for a superior engine!
But, I can't find it.........YET.

Are they gonna show my married couple a $13,700 deductible when it's a $6850 deductible PER person?
Are they gonna make them click forever to see what's important?
I asked ACAexpress about a lot of these particulars 1 year ago.
And, they said, you'll see on Opening Day.
I'm on the race track on Opening Day! I'm not out there preparing the race track!

Sherpa is at least transparent. You can instantly SEE what you'll get.
Of course, they don't have the time to make a simple fix & give us what we HAD & were happy with. They're too busy fixing something that wasn't broken....turning a diamond into crushed debris.

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TxOnline, in Kenny's original post above, he said:"On to the enhancements which will be deployed this weekend"

So, I think what is happening is that ACAExpress was simplifying when .......

Thanks, Annie. I carefully read Kenny's entire post. AND, I carefully read between his lines, too. He'll show us ALL of his cards when he's ready...probably at the last minute again this year....(if then).

I don't like his old site very much at all. The quotes are all crammed together. White space is a programmer's FRIEND...but most programmers don't KNOW that. People are less overwhelmed with a very CLEAN, simple site.

Many people (including myself) will NOT enter a site that requires a log-in or email address. We wanna see what you have to offer. We don't want to sign up for endless spam email.
Just ONE example: Amazon is quite successful without requiring an up-front email address.

Consumers will USE your consumer-facing site when it's simple & provides results. AND, they'll tell 10 friends about it, too. You won't have to chase prospects if you offer people something better than the next website. I think E-health FINALLY learned that.

Most-importantly, I want my clients to be able to quickly & EASILY find everything they are looking for.
I don't want the Provider Finder hidden behind:
- Click here for details
- Scroll all the way down on next screen to accidentally FIND the link to Provider Finder
Many will just LEAVE your site if they can't easily find what they're looking for.
(Thus, the need for drip emails to fish-them-back when you could've caught the fish on the 1st try if you had a consumer-friendly site.)

I don't wanna create ANY more need-for-an-agent-call than necessary. Yes, most of them NEED an agent to HELP them pick out the right insurance plan. But, they should NOT need help navigating a site!!!
And, the need for constant-clicking (to get where you WANT to be) should NOT annoy, frustrate nor run our prospects/clients off, either.

Our quote engines have ADDED to the frustration of an already-frustrating experience!

 

[KennyWest]

Interesting picture! I'm not offended one bit (Really), but you know some customers will be offended.

There are multiple images to choose from and can be changed at anytime. And before anyone asks, no, you cannot upload your own images.

Why not allow uploading of images? There are certain aspects we, and all WBE's for that matter, must control to ensure compliance with CMS regulations. As well as make sure the images are reasonably tasteful.

Here are the others to choose from:

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Just curious...If you signed up last year (I did), but never used ACA...Is it still ready to go now?

 

[KennyWest]

Just curious...If you signed up last year (I did), but never used ACA...Is it still ready to go now?

Yes, just use the same log in URL you did last year along with email address and password. If you do not know them email or PM me with the name the account was created under.

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11/01/2015
ACAExpress.com is live with 2016 Plans and New Enhanced Enrollment process!

Some questions which were emailed to me as suggestions for posting here.

Q: Can I specify whether to run 2015 SEP rates or 2016?

Q: YES! Up front you are presented (as well as customers on your Client Facing Site) option to choose which to run.

Q: Is it required to go through the redirect when submitting apps?

Q: No, application submission is seamless

Q: Is the app quoting and submission process simple?

Q: YES! From the Dashboard after you log in there are two choices:

1. Quick Quote: Requires only the most basic info in order to see rates fast. Can transition with data retained to full application if you wish after selecting a plan to enroll.
Note that Quick Quote is the process used on all agents Consumer Facing Sites

2. Create Applicant: Which runs quotes with full data input (address, zip, etc.)

Q: Can I access hc.gov via a back door (for uploading documents, submitting premium payment, etc.)?

Q: Yes, we like all other WBE's, use the same method to do this. When looking at a completed application simply click "Marketplace Access" and go. Note, some WBE's use a different name for this process though they are using the exact same process as we are. Just FYI.

Q: Do I get an immediate eligibility letter?

Q: Yes.

Q: How do you handle citizenship issues?

Q: When uncheck box on "Additional Details" you will choose from list of possibly immigrant/etc. status and provide document number. See image below

Q: How are renewals handled? New app? Do you update the old app?

Q: If application was submitted via ACAExpress in the past, lookup application in ACAExpress and create new. Each person in ACAExpress can have multiple plans enrolled for them and will be displayed in history with info to show when and what plan, etc.

For other customers, a new application is submitted per CMS guidelines.

Q: Is MOOP displayed on list view?

Q: YES!

Q: Are you doing the provider look-up thing, or am I able to turn it off?

Q: As of today (11/01/2015) it is not enabled. We will deploy at a later data once we are able to verify accuracy of the data returned to us by CMS.

Q: Consumer facing links to embed in my website and/or email to the client?

Q: ALL users get a Consumer Facing Site which you can email to customers.

Q: Can I save the quote?

Q: YES! AND so can customers if they stop and want to return later.

Q: Can I save the app mid-stream and come back to it?

Q: YES! AND so can customers if they stop and want to return later.

If you have more questions please email me at [email protected]

THANKS!

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ACAExpress.com and AgencyBloc integration is available and exclusive to ACAExpress.com

ACAExpress.com integrates with AgencyBloc to allow data to be 'pushed' from your ACAExpress.com account into your AgencyBloc account. Once implemented all of your organizations completed enrollments will automatically land in your AgencyBloc account.

To setup this connection, contact the AgencyBloc Client Success Team to get your unique ACAExpress "URL". Insurance CRM: Agency Management System for Health/Life Agencies

Finally a better way to reconcile your customer accounts with the carriers!

 

[mwoodbrid]

Yes, just use the same log in URL you did last year along with email address and password. If you do not know them email or PM me with the name the account was created under.

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11/01/2015
ACAExpress.com is live with 2016 Plans and New Enhanced Enrollment process!

Kenny, the updates ya'll put in for this year are great! Simple, straightforward consumer-facing site. Enter zip code, select year, and I'm at a single page showing plans with edits to age/income/family size right there on the same page. Thank you!

Also, I can confirm that the system is showing plans from my selected carriers by default. Thanks for that! Go buy your dev team a round, if you haven't already!

 

[KennyWest]

Kenny, the updates ya'll put in for this year are great! Simple, straightforward consumer-facing site. Enter zip code, select year, and I'm at a single page showing plans with edits to age/income/family size right there on the same page. Thank you!

Also, I can confirm that the system is showing plans from my selected carriers by default. Thanks for that! Go buy your dev team a round, if you haven't already!

Thanks for the kind words!

Stay tuned as we have a list of other tweaks and enhancements, which agents have asked for, which will be deployed over the coming days!

4 steps to enroll via ACAExpress -vs- 12+ via the other site..

 

[dgoldenz]

Kenny,

I just tested a male age 30 in zip code 89128 and the rates are way off. It shows the cheapest plan available from Anthem at $334/month but that plan is supposed to be $214/month and the cheapest plan from HPN is supposed to be $192/month.

For the record, the rates at HealthSherpa are off too but with different numbers. Not sure what gives.

 

[KennyWest]

Kenny,

I just tested a male age 30 in zip code 89128 and the rates are way off. It shows the cheapest plan available from Anthem at $334/month but that plan is supposed to be $214/month and the cheapest plan from HPN is supposed to be $192/month.

For the record, the rates at HealthSherpa are off too but with different numbers. Not sure what gives.

Email me your name and customer you refer to so we can look at specifics please

My email is
[email protected]

Thanks!

 

[dgoldenz]

Email sent. Good thing for HS and ACAEx that OEP starts on a Sunday...

 

[Ann H]

On the Health Sherpa thread, I did a quick comparison. Sorry for duplicating posts, but I'm just trying to be fair. I'm also trying to let a representative from each WBE be responsive by fixing any bugs, and also responsive in communication to us as agents. Here is what I wrote on the other thread:

I just compared HealthSherpa with ACAExpress:

1. Health Sherpa - you enter the zip code first, ACAExpress, you pick year (2016 or 2015) first.

2. Both come up to a screen pre-loaded with age 30 or 35, and the quotes for that person show up immediately on that page.

3. However, with ACA Express you would have to put in your zip code now, and with Health Sherpa you would have to go back to the agent dashboard if you wanted 2015 plans.

4. for both, that first screen has a place to input a new age, household size, and income.

5. I input 42M, 42F and $40,000 MAGI, HH size of 2, zip code of 85015

6. Sherpa says $160 subsidy, ACAExpress says $228.65 subsidy, hc.gov says $157.97 subsidy. I did a quick manual calculation, and I come up with $159.07. However, to be fair, I had run some other scenarios earlier and it was the other way around where ACAExpress was accurate, and Sherpa had a completely different number.

7. Sherpa shows FAMILY deductible, ACA Express shows individual deductible, and both show MOOP, although Sherpa's is family and ACA is individual. So, for instance, Sherpa will show $13,700 while ACA shows $6850 per person. By the way, hc.gov shows Family ($13,700 in this example).

8. Both show the full premium under the net premium, in a lighter font. ACAExpress also shows it crossed-out, which is nice.

9. Both show details like copays for Dr., Specialist & Generic Rx, although ACAExpress goes further and shows Brand Rx. I must say that Sherpa's quote images (the box that holds each individual quote) look nicer. I applaud ACAExpress for using nearly the whole page instead of just the right half of the page like Sherpa does, but the font tends to be too large so that the sentences run into each other.

10. Both have links to more details. For Sherpa, it is buttons at the bottom of each quote image, and for ACA it is a "more details" link on each quote image. Both send you to links for plan brochures, provider networks, and SBC's. Also, both redirect you to the actual carrier, so you get the carrier's updated version of these items.

11. I quickly deleted the spouse from the census. Both ACA & Sherpa let you do this with one click. The subsidy changed immediately on ACAExpress to $0 (which is correct), but it didn't change at all on Sherpa (it was still showing $160 at the top as the subsidy). To be fair to Sherpa, the premiums for the plans did not reflect a subsidy. On healthcare.gov, I clicked "edit" and had to go back through a bunch of screens to delete the spouse, but when I did the results were $0 subsidy.