UHC Goes to 0% Commission After Jan 1st??

[AllenChicago]

Wow, an article on what's really happening:

UnitedHealthcare puts up obstacles to sale of some Obamacare policies

UnitedHealthcare apparently took steps to ensure that it did not sell too many health plans on the federal marketplace during the current open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act.

In a statement, UnitedHealthcare said, "Our actions are consistent with our long-stated approach to continually evaluate the dynamics of exchanges as they evolve and adjust to changes in the market accordingly".

The way they went about this "adjusting to changes" was all wrong. They should have simply flipped the sales switch to OFF, instead of intentionally sabotaging their own system while it was running.

 

[FLM2]

Wow, an article on what's really happening:

UnitedHealthcare puts up obstacles to sale of some Obamacare policies

UnitedHealthcare apparently took steps to ensure that it did not sell too many health plans on the federal marketplace during the current open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act.

The steps included requiring paper applications and not giving brokers price quotes online.

"They could not have made it any more difficult," said Chris McArdle, a broker with the Rauser Agency in Milwaukee. "They could not have made it any more clear that they did not want to be writing this business."

UnitedHealth Group Inc., the parent of UnitedHealthcare, made headlines in November when it said it may not sell health plans on the federal marketplaces in the future because of losses on the business.

The potential move applied only to health plans sold to individuals and their families.

UnitedHealthcare, which began selling health plans for 2015 on the marketplaces in Wisconsin, had committed to selling plans for 2016 and could not pull out of the market.

However, the health insurer reduced the commissions it paid brokers for plans sold on the federal marketplace to 2% from 6% and later said it would no longer pay commissions on the plans.

It also required brokers to call the company to obtain price quotes that previously had been available online.

"They would get back to me in the next couple of weeks — maybe," McArdle said.

Brokers also had to fax paper applications to the company, resulting in some problems from lost applications.

"It's fairly apparent they don't want to write any business," said Todd Catlin of Transition Health Benefits.

In a statement, UnitedHealthcare said, "Our actions are consistent with our long-stated approach to continually evaluate the dynamics of exchanges as they evolve and adjust to changes in the market accordingly

It's good to see this in a main stream newspaper, maybe some of the other major publications will follow suit.

 

[AgentStone]

The way they went about this "adjusting to changes" was all wrong. They should have simply flipped the sales switch to OFF, instead of intentionally sabotaging their own system while it was running.

Agree... what a mess for everyone

 

[djs]

The way they went about this "adjusting to changes" was all wrong. They should have simply flipped the sales switch to OFF, instead of intentionally sabotaging their own system while it was running.

My guess is they would have preferred to just switch it off. There is likely some rules that said they are not allowed to do that. So, they got their lawyers in a room and they figured out a way to leave the light on, but to put a box around the light so no one could see it.

Dan

 

[WiscBroker]

I logged into my UHC portal and now ALL of my on-exchange sales are GONE. It now shows "0" enrolled. WTF. So I am now being told by Broker Services that "as long as you are the AOR your portal will be updated" Well that's not too encouraging. I only got paid for January on 1/2 my on-exchange sales with UHC and I was calling today to determine where the other 1/2 is. As I'm calling, I log in and discover that in my portal I know show ZERO sales. WTF WTF WTF

 

[TN_agent]

Mine are gone too. Except one who never paid but wasn't termed. Random.

 

[Tkruger]

All of ours are gone as well. Seems UHC is getting "ghost" 834 files from HC.gov terming plans shortly after they are enrolled. Spent 2 hours working on fixing an issue for a client this am.

 

[TN_agent]

Well that is just peachy.

How many months before they get this straightened out?

 

[Tkruger]

How many months before they get this straightened out?

Sorry my crystal ball is in the shop.

 

[AllenChicago]

Mine are gone too. Except one who never paid but wasn't termed. Random.

I have to log into UHOne.com to see my Harken Health* clients. They're showing as Not In Force, even though a call to Harken confirms that they're all paid up. UHC is bleeding money on IFPlans and going into shock. I sense that their IFP division is shutting down.

*Harken Health insurance & Centers is new a subsidiary of United Healthcare. Operating in Atlanta and Chicago.