On Wednesday, January 25, 2012, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) addressed the attendees of NAHU's 2012 Capitol Conference in Washington, DC. The Speaker provided remarks on the current state of the healthcare reform legislation and announced that the House would be voting on legislation to repeal the CLASS Act. The House Speaker also expressed support for the health insurance broker community. A video of the Speakers remarks can found here. Additionally, an article from Lifehealthpro.com, summarizing a few key announcements from today's Capitol Conference events can be reviewed here.

The National Association of Health Underwriters completed a legislative town hall on January 10, 2012. The audio and powerpoint replay can be accessed if you would like to view the presentation. Please have your NAHU website sign-on available as you will need to log in to download both the audio recording and powerpoint slides.

Be sure to mark your calendars for upcoming 2012 NAHU town hall webinars.

Wednesday, March 14th @ 1PM
Wednesday, June 13th @ 1PM
Wednesday, September 12th @ 1PM
Wednesday, December 12th @ 1PM

On December 15, 2011, HIBBC Co-Chair Larry Livengood, principal of What a Stitch, LLC in Mt. Airy Maryland testified before the House Small Business Committee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations. The hearing was entitled "New Medical Loss Ratios: Increasing Health Care Value or Just Eliminating Jobs." Mr. Livengood provided testimony on how the MLR provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are negatively impacting his business. He also spoke about how reliant he his on his health insurance consultant, NAHU member Paul Younkins. You can view a video of the hearing by clicking here.

On July 28, 2011 Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius turned the national healthcare reform spotlight on Maryland by authoring an Op-Ed article that was published by the Baltimore Sun. The article refers to the current state of the health insurance market-place in Maryland and outlines what the market-place will look like after the Exchange is operating. Differing opinions on the outlook of the health insurance market-place in Maryland were offered by Janet Trautwein, Executive Vice President and CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters and by NAIFA-MD and MAHU Lobbyist Bryson Popham. An Op-Ed article, authored by Janet Trautwein, was published by the Baltimore Sun on August 11, 2011. Additionally, Bryson Popham submitted an Op-Ed response, which has yet to be published, but can be read here.

Many of you may recall that Governor Martin O'Malley signed the Health Benefit Exchange Act into law back in April of this year. This Act set several processes in motion. First, the Act defined the Exchange as a public corporation and an independent unit of State government. Next, the Act requires the formation of four advisory committees, each given a specific aspect of the newly formed Exchange to study. Additionally, each advisory committee must complete their studies and provide their findings to the Exchange Board by the middle of November, 2011. The Exchange Board must then present the recommendations outlined in the studies to the Legislature by December 23, 2011. Below is a list of the newly formed advisory committees. You can learn more about each committee by clicking on title below.

Operating Model and Insurance Rules Advisory Committee
Small Business Exchange (SHOP) Advisory Committee
Navigator and Enrollment Advisory Committee
Finance and Enrollment Advisory Committee

After the Health Benefit Exchange Act was signed into law, a call went out from the Exchange Board for individuals to submit applications to serve on the advisory committees. The Association of Health Underwriters was very fortunate to have many of its members submit applications and several members were subsequently asked to serve. Our Association is being represented by nine members serving on each of the four advisory committees. Should you see any of these individuals at an upcoming meeting, please thank them for their continued willingness to serve our clients and each of us. Below is a list of the Association members that are working with the advisory committees.

Operating Model & Insurance Market Rules Committee
Jonathan Anders
Mark Sucoloski

Navigation & Enrollment Committee (Includes Advertising & PR issues)
Mike Cumberland
Jay Duke

SHOP (Small Business) Committee
Shawn Brashears
Lee Diemer
Jon Frank
Bill Simmons

Financial Sustainability Committee
Al Helfenbein

It’s clear that we have a very strong Association that values continued advocacy on behalf of small-businesses, individuals and our Association membership. Each of us has the responsibility of advancing the efforts of our Association by staying up-to-date on the developments concerning the Health Benefit Exchange Act. You can learn more about the committees by reviewing the Exchange Advisory Committees: Rules and Responsibilities. Also, you can stay up-to-date on the Exhange Board by reading the minutes from previous meetings and reviewing the topics that are on the agenda for future meetings.

With all the talk of healthcare reform, it's easy to overlook several new laws that take effect in Maryland on July 1, 2011. Two laws in particular were passed during the most recent legislative session and may impact some of your clients. A brief overview is provided below.

Maryland HB 156: Self-Employed Coverage
Extension of the sunset provision relating to health insurance policies for self-employed individuals, through December 31, 2013. HB 156 allows, currently enrolled, self-employed individuals to maintain their small group health insurance plan through the new sunset date of December 31, 2013. No new self-employed individuals may enroll in the small group market. Contact the issuing carrier for more details, as specific criteria must be met by the self-employed individual to maintain coverage.

Maryland SB 314: Assignment of Benefits
Establishes criteria for physicians accepting assignment of benefits and requires carriers to send payment directly to physicians rather than members. Additionally, SB 314 creates a new mandate that out-of-network benefits must provide a minimum level of reimbursement. All covered services under PPO benefit policies may not differ by more than 20% for in and out-of-network coinsurance reimbursement amounts.

It goes without saying that it's challenging for employers to keep track of the numerous provisions of the health care reform law. There are many provisions requiring employers to perform certain tasks or face penalties. It's these provisions that seem to be garnering the most attention. With this in mind, I thought it would be a worthwhile refresher to devote a Blog section to the small employer health insurance tax credit. Granted, the tax credit is not going to impact all employers, but it's important that we, as health insurance consultants become familiar with the credit and help small employers obtain the credit if they're eligible.

The Basics:
The credit is available to small employers that pay at least half the cost of single coverage for their employees. Eligibility rules are based in part on the number of FTEs, not the number of employees. Employers that use part-time workers may qualify even if they employ more than 25 individuals. Owners and their family members are not counted as employees when calculating the tax credit. The maximum credit goes to smaller employers (those with 10 or fewer FTEs) paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less and is phased out for employers with 25 FTEs, paying annual average wages of $50,000 or more. For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small businesses and 25 percent of premiums paid by eligible tax-exempt organizations. For more details on the tax credit visit the IRS frequently asked questions page.

You should always recommend that an employer contact their tax advisor when determining eligibility for the tax credit. You don't need to become an expert, but we should all be doing our part to ensure that employers are educated on this important tax credit. Many of the group health insurance carriers have put together tax credit calculators, two such carriers are CareFirst and UHC.

In our roles as health insurance brokers, we spend the majority of our time assisting clients with HR functions. The HR consulting and support we provide has increased dramatically since the passing of PPACA. There are many employer responsibilities contained in the PPACA legislation, and as a result, many brokers are working with clients to ensure that their responsibilities are met. Two areas that have caused concern and confusion for employers over the past year include, the 1099 reporting requirements and the w-2 reporting rules. It's important that we as brokers understand these rules and guide clients appropriately. Updates to both the 1099 and w-2 regulations were recently enacted. Further details are included below. Past experience shows that these rules can change, and if this happens, employers will be counting on us to provide guidance. Continue to stay in touch with BAHU, MAHU and NAHU for the latest updates.

W-2 Reporting is Voluntary for All Employers for 2011 and Small Employers for 2012

IR-2011-31, March 29, 2011

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today issued interim guidance to employers on informational reporting on each employee's annual Form W-2 of the cost of the health insurance coverage they sponsor for employees. The IRS is also requesting comments on this interim guidance. The IRS emphasized that this new reporting to employees is for their information only, to inform them of the cost of their health coverage, and does not cause excludable employer-provided health coverage to become taxable; employer-provided health coverage continues to be excludable from an employee's income, and is not taxable.

The Affordable Care Act provides that employers are required to report the cost of employer-provided health care coverage on the Form W-2. Notice 2010-69, issued last fall, made this requirement optional for all employers for the 2011 Forms W-2 (generally furnished to employees in January 2012). In today's guidance, the IRS provided further relief for smaller employers (those filing fewer than 250 W-2 forms) by making this requirement optional for them at least for 2012 (i.e., for 2012 Forms W-2 that generally would be furnished to employees in January 2013) and continuing this optional treatment for smaller employers until further guidance is issued.

Using a question-and-answer format, Notice 2011-28 also provides guidance for employers that are subject to this requirement for the 2012 Forms W-2 and those that choose to voluntarily comply with it for either 2011 or 2012. The notice includes information on how to report, what coverage to include and how to determine the cost of the coverage.

The 2011 Form W-2, prior IRS Notice 2010-69 deferring the reporting requirement for 2011, and Notice 2011-28 containing the new guidance are available on IRS.gov.

1099 Reporting Requirement Repealed

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release April 14, 2011
Statement by the Press Secretary on H.R. 4

On Thursday, April 14, 2011, the President signed into law:

H.R. 4, the "Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011," which repeals the expansion in the Affordable Care Act of requirements for businesses to report information to the Internal Revenue Service on payments for goods of $600 or more annually to other businesses and increases the amount of overpayment subject to repayment of premium assistance tax credits for health insurance coverage purchases through the Exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act.

On Tuesday, April 12, 2011, Governor O'Malley signed the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Act of 2011(HB 166 / SB 182).  The Exchange Act creates the framework for the Maryland State Insurance Exchange mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In a show of support for the broker community, the Associations of Health Underwriters were represented at the signing by JLC Chairman Jonathan Anders, JLC Member Bill Simmons and lobbyist Bryson Popham.

See news video of the signing here.

NAHU RELEASE

H.R. 1206, a bill to remove broker compensation from the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) calculation, introduced on March 17 by Michigan Representative Mike Rogers (R-8) and Georgia Representative John Barrow (D-12), has continued to garner bipartisan cosponsors thanks in large part to your unwavering advocacy efforts on the ground! H.R. 1206 now has 41 bipartisan cosponsors, an encouraging feat for a bill introduced a mere three weeks ago.

It is not too late for your Representative to get on board and cosponsor this bill. But we need your help to get this accomplished! We are asking all members to take a few minutes to contact their representative in Congress and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 1206, which will remove agent and broker commissions from the MLR calculation. Take action now by using NAHU's Operation Shout, or by using the congressional contact list to ask your representative to support this H.R. 1206.

Cosponsors for H.R. 1206 include: Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO-2), Rep. Steve Austria (R-OH-7), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7), Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK-2), Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA-7), Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX-26), Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-5), Rep. John Carter (R-TX-31), Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA-6), Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC-6), Rep. Bob Dold (R-IL-10), Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA-8), Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO-4), Rep. John Gingrey (R-GA-11), Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX-12), Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AR-2), Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2), Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV-3), Rep. Tim Holden (R-PA-17), Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI-2), Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL-14), Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC-8), Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX-10), Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA-4), Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI-11), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC-5), Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX-14), Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA-19), Rep. Tom Price (R-GA-6), Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY-5), Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN-4), Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL-6), Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR-4), Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD-2), Rep. Peter Sessions (R-TX-32), Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH-15), Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK-1), Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL-8) and Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS-3).

Your advocacy efforts have been essential to ensure the strong support we need to get this legislation moving. However, we want to continue to send a strong signal of support for this bill and encourage an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in the near future by getting even more legislators onboard through co-sponsorship. Our goal is more than 100 co-sponsors, and we know our membership's grassroots connections will make that goal a reality in short order!

If your representative is already a cosponsor, NAHU will provide you with a pre-written thank you letter to send to them as a way to reach out and extend your sincere appreciation on behalf of the entire agent and broker community in support of their efforts! It is equally important that we send this message of appreciation to those who have already demonstrated their support of the agent and broker community!

Because of your dedicated grassroots efforts H.R. 1206 has generated an extremely encouraging amount of cosponsors in a short period of time! Expanding our advocacy efforts at this crucial time continues to be a necessity. Let's channel this positive momentum into strengthening our message and getting even more of our Representatives onboard by "Taking Action" today!

Maryland Representatives

Find your Representative by clicking here.

Cardin, Benjamin L. - (D - MD)
509 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4524 
Web Form: cardin.senate.gov/contact/

Mikulski, Barbara A. - (D - MD)
503 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4654
Web Form: mikulski.senate.gov/contact/

Rep. Andy Harris
Maryland, House
Republican
District: 01
Contact:
506 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2001
202-225-5311

Rep. C. A. Ruppersberger
Maryland, House
Democrat
District: 02
Contact:
2453 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2002
202-225-3061

Rep. John Sarbanes
Maryland, House
Democrat
District: 03
Contact:
2444 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2003
202-225-4016

Rep. Donna Edwards
Maryland, House
Democrat
District: 04
Contact:
318 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2004
202-225-8699

Rep. Steny Hoyer
Maryland, House
Democrat
District: 05
Contact:
1705 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2005
202-225-4131

Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett
Maryland, House
Republican
District: 06
Contact:
2412 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2006
202-225-2721

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings
Maryland, House
Democrat
District: 07
Contact:
2235 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2007
202-225-4741

Rep. Chris Van Hollen
Maryland, House
Democrat
District: 08
Contact:
1707 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2008
202-225-5341

Should broker compensation be in or out of the medical loss ratio requirements? This is the question soon to be at the front of the healthcare reform debate in Washington. A bill soon to be introduced on Capitol Hill, takes this issue head on. The "broker bill," co-sponsored by a Democrat and a Republican aims to remove broker compensation from the medical loss ratio requirements. With the introduction of this new bill, the medical loss ratio debate is likely to intensify. This issue is quickly gaining steam as witnessed by articles in both The New York Times and Politico. I would encourage you to read both articles and spend some time reading through the comments left by readers of the New York Times article. These comments provide great insight into the public perception of this issue. Public perception is one reason all brokers should be contacting their legislators. It's important that your legislators understand your job, the value you provide and how you help to make the health insurance marketplace more competitve and user friendly.

Let's not forget what a terrific job NAHU has done on this issue at the national level. Without the work being done by our Association, we wouldn't be where we are. This is a true testament to value of membership in BAHU, MAHU and NAHU.

New York Times Article

Click HERE.

Politico Article

Click HERE.

With all of the events surrounding PPACA, regulations, guidance, State Exchanges, etc... this blog will be your resource for updates on everything Legislative both State and Federal.

You will have the opportunity to read up on developing stories and situations, as well as provide direct feedback to other members of the association and legislative committee, which could, in turn, be used in our efforts to protect our industry and our clients.

Keep checking back for updates as they come in.

Welcome to the new BAHU Website!

We are excited about using this new website to help streamline our efforts for our members and develop a little more interaction between our members and provide a greater level of resources for our membership.

Look around the site explore all the corners, and keep checking back.  We will be using this blog as a way to post updates, legislative issues, links to articles, and to foster conversation amoung members.

Thanks and welcome!