Mlr

[HomeService]

These insurance commissioners should have stood against this evil Sebilius character and shouted her down and told her to just go away.

 

[AllenChicago]

I don't think many of us felt Agent Commissions would be included in the Health Benefits side of the MLR equation. There was no way it could be reasonably and logically justified.

In hindsight though, after reading the PPACA: Commissions Stay in MLR Blank article, I'm now somewhat angry at the NAIC members for APPEARING to show an interest in agent commissions over the past several weeks. Yet when it came time to submit their final MLR proposal to HHS, they readily placed agent commissions in the administration cost side of the calculation. In fact, they did it with such ease, I suspect that the NAIC members had no intention of pressing the issue. They just wanted to get the heat from AHIP and other Agent lobbyists off their backs.

This quote from the HHS official is a joke!
"Hudson said HHS officials say they will start talking to NAIC officials about the place of agent commissions in MLR calculations "right away.""

HHS said after today's meeting that they will issue final MLR regulations NEXT WEEK. There isn't time for HHS to talk with NAIC officials about showing empathy when it comes to agent commissions.

Phase-in from 2011 to 2014? Isn't that like boiling your lobsters a little slower? The end result is the same. By 2014, there won't be but a handful of health companies left. Pay freezes for all employees, pay reductions for agents and increased premiums for consumers will combine for a perfect storm of disaster. Socialized medicine, here we come.


-AC

 

[HomeService]

I don't think many of us felt Agent Commissions would be included in the Health Benefits side of the MLR equation. There was no way it could be reasonably and logically justified.

In hindsight though, after reading the PPACA: Commissions Stay in MLR Blank article, I'm now somewhat angry at the NAIC members for APPEARING to show an interest in agent commissions over the past several weeks. Yet when it came time to submit their final MLR proposal to HHS, they readily placed agent commissions in the administration cost side of the calculation. In fact, they did it with such ease, I suspect that the NAIC members had no intention of pressing the issue. They just wanted to get the heat from AHIP and other Agent lobbyists off their backs.

This quote from the HHS official is a joke!
"Hudson said HHS officials say they will start talking to NAIC officials about the place of agent commissions in MLR calculations "right away.""

HHS said after today's meeting that they will issue final MLR regulations NEXT WEEK. There isn't time for HHS to talk with NAIC officials about showing empathy when it comes to agent commissions.

Phase-in from 2011 to 2014? Isn't that like boiling your lobsters a little slower? The end result is the same. By 2014, there won't be but a handful of health companies left. Pay freezes for all employees, pay reductions for agents and increased premiums for consumers will combine for a perfect storm of disaster. Socialized medicine, here we come.


-AC

What I really do not understand is this: this whole law appears to be bogus and unconstitutional. Many states are already making noise that they are going to repeal. Why do these insurance commissioners go down there to a conference and act like it's all legit? They needed to boycott it.

 

[jbage007]

Because they're all a bunch of damn politicians.

Who don't have a clue.

 

[HomeService]

Because they're all a bunch of damn politicians.

Who don't have a clue.

Plus the commissioners act like they are ready to cede power to the feds. At one point, the power to regulate health insurance was given to each of the fifty states. How this became a fed issue, I shall never know. These commissioners are ready to lay down and die. Maybe they are sick of regulating health insurance and are just ready to let the feds have a try at it.

 

[Dave020]

NAHU Code Blue from this afternoon.................

NAHU achieved a significant win on behalf of members this week in working with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to create a special task force with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to consider the definitions and methodologies for calculating medical loss ratios (MLRs) and their effect on consumer access to agents and brokers. Please see NAHU's press statement here

Today, in its fall meeting in Orlando, FL, the NAIC completed its work to adopt a model regulation for medical loss ratios as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The model will be delivered to HHS for certification by the Secretary, and will be used by HHS for the issuance of final MLR regulations that are scheduled to take effect January 1, 2011.

Through NAHU's work with members, coalition allies and other stakeholders, there was significant sentiment among commissioners in expressing concern over the MLR regulation's effect on insurance producers and their ability to continue serving the American consumer. Many commissioners said that the enactment of health care reform ensures that consumers will need the assistance of agents more than ever in the coming months and years, and the NAIC should not enact standards and rules that discourage insurance buyers (whether individuals or small businesses) and insurers from working with agents. They noted that the proliferation of scam artists now attempting to sell fraudulent insurance policies and take advantage of the ignorance of the average consumer highlights why competent, qualified, and accountable agents are so essential.

In response, at the NAIC Executive Committee meeting, Ohio Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson and Florida Commissioner Kevin McCarty moved to establish a joint NAIC Executive Committee/HHS working group to address agent compensation and the MLR. The NAIC leadership indicated that they would begin work immediately, and that there would be broad representation on the working group, which was specifically requested by Commissioner Mike Chaney of MS.

NAHU is pleased with this progress to find a regulatory pathway to ensure equitable compensation for the agent/broker industry. None of these efforts to protect agents and brokers would have happened without all of your work with your commissioners on this issue both in the states and at the NAIC meeting. [/font]
[FONT='Arial','sans-serif']Yet there is still work to be done. We are taking steps as we write this to urge HHS and the NAIC leadership to take immediate action on the task force, since its work will impact 2011 commissions and rates, which are already being set. We also need to work with our insurance commissioners to ensure that there will be broad representation on the task force, including input from stakeholders like NAHU. NAHU will be working non-stop on these issues, and we also will be calling on you to work on these issues with your insurance commissioners in your states.

Your steadfast support and ability to quickly mobilize your grass-top connections are what has helped win the support and respect of the commissioners and achieve this progress so far, and we are confident that our continued hard work with enable us to create a pathway preserving the role of the agent/broker in the health care delivery system in the future.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

What is NAHU excited about? I am not following the "progress" they are referencing???

 

[HealthGuy]

WTF is NAHU good for anyway? Seems like they do nothing. Do these guys really do anything positive for agents?

 

[insurehound]

So NAHU has little to no power and our friends over at the NAIC are throwing us to the wolves??? Does that kinda sum it up?

You have to know that we have no allies. The insurance companies want us gone; they don't want us fixing anymore of our clients' problems and they certainly do not want to pay us. Then, we have the Goberment that hates the Middle Class and Small Business. Together you have the marriage of two power groups that want the same thing...us gone!

 

[Full Throttle]

NAHU belongs to the carriers, not the agents. Follow the money.