2 hours of CE CE will 9:30 a.m. to 11: HSA-FSA Compliance Quiz Health Savings Accounts Compliance Quiz

Transcription

1 April 2014 PAGE 1 Chapter Meeting Harrigan s Meeting Room Chapter Meeting will begin at 11:45 A.M. 2 hours of CE CE will 9:30 a.m. to 11: HSA-FSA Compliance Quiz Health Savings Accounts Compliance Quiz Monica helps position Optum products in the marketplace. As regional sales director, she oversees the growth of Optum and UnitedHealthcare medical reimbursement accounts and consumer directed health care in the Central/Midwest region. She develops and maintains relationships with sales leaders within UnitedHealthcare, brokers, consultants and prospective customers. She also educates and trains UnitedHealthcare sales teams on the value of Optum products and services. With over 25 years in the health insurance industry, Monica specializes in relationship building, consultative sales and service. Before joining Optum in 2007, Monica worked for Humana Inc. in Chicago, as strategic account executive in national accounts sales. Monica attended the University of Illinois Chicago and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from North Park University in Chicago. She currently resides in the Chicagoland area.

2 Page 2 President Corner Our monthly membership meeting was held March 6th at Harrigan s Restaurant as usual. I talk to the other chapter president s at the quarterly state board meetings and we really are blessed to have this fine facility for our monthly meetings, and all it costs us is the price our lunches! Be sure and thank them when you get a chance. We had a little mix-up at this luncheon but it turned out great. We had two speakers and both were really good. Dee Neill, Program Specialist for the South Plains Association of Governments and the Area Agency on Aging spoke first. He gave us a great insight into resources available for free to seniors here on the South Plains. He was the guest and invitee of Reed Hitch, our Vice-President. Tim Denton, our Treasurer, brought Glen Polk, regional celebrity and actor/singer to the meeting. Glen told us about getting to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams by playing an old rancher and acting in a movie, The Arroyo, about drug and immigrant smuggling along the Arizona border. Much of the movie was shot on a ranch down in Garza County near Post. Glen s tales about his experience was a very entertaining addition to our luncheon. Sounds like quite a film. On a little unhappier note, Mike Gwin has informed us that his duties with United Healthcare in 2014 will require a great deal of his time as he continues to grow the West Texas market. As a result he says he might not be able to make many of the monthly board meetings and he has respectfully resigned the position of President-Elect and thus will not be moving up to President in July. Mike did a great job for LAAHU and led a very successful Symposium. He will continue to help with various projects like the upcoming 2nd Annual LAAHU Golf Tournament on June 9th as much as he can. Lee Manross with Al Cunningham from PAHU

3 Page 3 Dear NAHU Leaders, I wanted to share with you two pieces of very good news from our government affairs department. First of all, we received confirmation this morning that language repealing PPACA s deductible cap for small employers is being included in the Medicare provider payment fix patch legislation that has been negotiated by both parties and will be voted on by Congress over the course of the next week or so. A repeal of the $2000/$4000 cap on deductibles for small employer group coverage has been a priority of NAHU s since the law was enacted. We were, I believe, the first trade association to actively work for its repeal and were instrumental in getting bipartisan House legislation introduced that is the basis for the repeal language included in the doc fix bill released this morning. NAHU member and HUPAC board member Alan Schulman testified before the House Small Business Committee calling for the repeal of this provision just a few weeks ago! Second, and no less important, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will introduce two bills tomorrow calling on HHS to adopt key exchange changes that NAHU has been seeking on a regulatory basis for some time. The items covered by her legislation include establishing a toll-free concierge line for broker enrollment and policy questions, a listing of all certified agents on healthcare.gov, a fix to the NPN issue that has plagued agents from day one of open enrollment, and a requirement that HHS provide the broker community of all policy changes relative to QHPS and exchange enrollment within five business days in layperson s language, including specific information about how agents and brokers can best help their clients take advantage of any policy or regulatory changes in a timely manner. A second bill will make improvements to the direct enrollment process for independent agents, including making improvements that will allow independent agents better access to web-based entities. Again, NAHU members were instrumental in making sure that Congress is aware of our exchange concerns and we have worked extensively with Senator Landrieu and her staff during the drafting process of drafting this legislation to ensure that it covers our full concerns. Congratulations on all of your hard work! Best, Jessica Jessica Fulginiti Waltman Senior Vice President, Government Affairs National Association of Health Underwriters

4 Page 4 Trip to The Hill On February 24-26, 2014 Bobby Clark, George Keeling, Beth Ashmore and I attended Capitol Conference 2014 in Washington, DC. Each day of the conference was packed full of meetings and appointments with our federal legislators. The first day started with NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein interviewing DC Health Link Executive Director, Mila Kofman followed by a Town Hall meeting which allowed the 550 plus attendees to ask specific questions about NAHU activities and discussions with our Federal Legislators. The afternoon allowed for several breakout sessions including Access Opportunities for Agents in Public Exchanges, ERISA 101, Private Exchanges-New Options for Employers and Medicaid 101. Day 2 began with a presentation from Sharon Day, Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee. She shared her optimism regarding the upcoming national election. Then we were off to the Capitol to meet with Congressman Randy Neugebauer and his legislative assistant. We also met with Congressman Tim Conaway and his staff. Both offices have intern staff from the Lubbock area so they were happy to see someone from home. The message we took to our elected officials included: the need for affordability within health care reform, reviewing the essential benefit and other coverage requirements to ensure they allow individuals and employers the opportunity to buy affordable coverage, MLR requirements and the negative impart within the broker community, greater transparency of provider quality and cost data including expanding user-friendly access to current, accurate, unbiased medical cost information. A complete listing of the top policy goals of NAHU can be viewed at Most importantly, the four of us provided ourselves, and the local association, as a resource to these policymakers regarding any questions that arise in the field of health insurance and agent/brokers. Day 3 started with a Health Transparency panel discussion. Participants include Dr. Abbie Leibowtz, EVP and Chief Medical Officer, Health Advocates; Andrew Dryfus, President and CEO, BCBS of Massachusetts and Dr. Lee Hieb, Orthopedic Surgeon. Representative Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Jennifer Duffy, Senior Editor, The Cook Political Report and Representative Jim Matheson (D-UT) spoke regarding a transformed marketplace and the continuing role of insurance agents. Each year this event provides invaluable education and resources that allow for both personal and professional growth. I strongly encourage attendance next year from anyone who is interested in learning more about our federal policy priorities through NAHU and the real face of our National policy makers in Washington DC. Cheryl Clark TAHU 2 nd VP Proud LAAHU Member

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7 Page LAAHU Board President President-Elect Vice President Immediate Past President Secretary Treasurer & Website/ Technology Awards Chair Presidential Advisor & Newsletter Communications Chair Professional Development Chair TAHU & HUPAC Chair Legislative Chair Media Relations Chair Membership Retention/ Recruitment Chair Community Service Chair William Ernest Berry Reed Hitch Lynn Alexander Shawn Laquey Tim Denton Connie Claborn Della Gunn John Claborn Rhonda Thomack Dorothy Price Bobby Clark John Claborn Cheryl Clark Jake Montoya Lubbock Association website: Texas Association website: National Association website: