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9-01-07 Presidents September Message
September Call to Action!
By: H. Luke McDermott, RHU, REBC
President UAHU
Ah, September! Don’t you just love September. The month where Summer and Autumn Collide! September Sunshine is still warm with just a hint of coolness in the air. Soft summer breezes turn into slight autumn breezes that make the changing color in the leaves on the trees come alive. Ah, September in the Wasatch Mountains! How vibrant, how beautiful, and how intoxicating nature can be! If you haven’t seen the colors on the mountain side at Wasatch State Park in Midway the middle of September you just haven’t seen Utah. September, back to school, Friday night high school football games, Saturday afternoon College football games, NFL football games! Major League Baseball’s mad dash pennant races! If you are a sport enthusiast you are practically in sport heaven during September, what a great time to enjoy the fresh air of the great outdoors. So, do yourself a favor and take a drive to the mountains and enjoy the views. Take a drive to the nearest high school and watch a football game. Enjoy the weekends of September because, my fellow UAHU members we have a lot of work to do during the “work weeks” of September! September also brings January renewals and planning for the year end madness in the great health insurance industry that we dearly love. September brings us potential legislation that will be presented in January when our state legislature reconvenes once again. This September we will reviewing the proposals that will be attacking our industry within the corners of our own State. We must be educated, we must be prepared, we must be ready for “Action’!
So, welcome back to UAHU! On August 7th of this year I sent an email to our 368 members of UAHU informing you all about the “Utah Health Insurance Exchange/Connector” Idea that the Governor is supporting and wants to get past in the legislature this coming year for an implementation date of July 2009. This is a real and alarming threat to the small group market in Utah and there are those in our State that are willing to destroy the current small group market in favor of this “unproven” Exchange/Connector idea for the sole premise of “doing something is better than doing nothing”. This is a dangerous notion that will lead to far worse consequences for the current small group market and those currently covered than the proponents realize or want to accept. By the middle of September we should have a copy of what the Governor will be proposing for the Exchange/Connector. In the mean time the following is what the proponents of this idea are saying:
1. They want to establish a mechanism that allows all working Utahans, but especially the employees of small businesses to purchase affordable insurance products with pre-tax dollars.
2. This mechanism would have a limited range of functions: It could act as a clearinghouse to facilitate the aggregation of multiple funding sources, employer funds, personal funds, and government subsidies.
3. Individuals would have just one place to deal with and the individual chooses which plan they want and it would be more portable and premiums will not adjust with health status.
4. The employer would not have to get involved and there would be very little paperwork. Employers can decide how much to contribute as part of the employee’s compensation package.
5. Insurers will compete on value, not on risk selection. Of course, this highlights the importance of figuring out how to properly adjust the risk.
6. The State will decrease the number of uninsured and reduce the uncompensated care; it can simplify public-private efforts allowing the state to focus more on eligibility and enrollment and less on running a health care system
7. They want to mandate that all small group employers purchase coverage through the connector.
8. They want the connector to be the only place in the state to buy individual (non-group) coverage
9. They want to mandate that everyone in the state has to have health insurance coverage and for small group employees that option would be the connector.
10. There are many other things they state and I refer you back to my email that has those details in one of the attachments. However, we will forward a copy of the proposal to all of you the moment we get our hands on it.
As you read through want the proponents want to do I am sure you can come up with your ideas of why this will not work. You may want to visit with the carriers that you work with and get their ideas as well on the matter. Let me share some information with you:
1. The Utah Association of Health Underwriters believes in the free market system! And we are opposed to a new unneeded government agency or quasi agency that copies the services currently provided in the private sector. (Please see Brad Kuhnhausen’s article in this newsletter; Utah’s uninsured Population – A practical Approach to Reducing the Number)
2. Utah has a very healthy and robust small employer market, probably the best that it has ever been, at least in the 24 years that I have been in the business. Utah has had two new major national players enter the small group market in 2007.
3. Dr. Elliott Fisher, a professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and Director of Health Care research and reform was recently in Utah and presented data about our State, “Utah is one of the top states giving high quality health care for less money”.
4. In Utah we have only a 2% unemployment rate. The economy is healthy.
5. Competition in this market breeds innovation in administrative efficiencies, policy changes and product design.
6. Utahans need to be personally responsible for their health care decisions concerning both access and financing of their health care and in exercising principals of self reliance.
7. Principals of fitness and wellness need to be taught to Utah’s children starting with our elementary schools.
8. Principals of all types of insurance should be taught in our Junior Highs and High Schools to better prepare them for individual responsibilities for their choices and actions and possible consequences that they will face by being uninsured.
9. The Massachusetts connector model is still too new to determine how well it will work. Some Actuaries are not holding their breath as it is estimated to be 1 billion dollars over budget and many of national carriers have left the State leaving the local carriers to deal with the remains. Prudence would suggest to wait and study.
10. Let us not forget our roles as insurance professionals; we are the connector and we are the insurance exchange mechanisms as many of us help our clients from new hire through Cobra continuation to individual or conversion markets and beyond into Medicare coverage. We are here to connect people with their coverage options and we leave the decision to buy up to the individual! We do this with diligence, honesty and integrity and we are not ashamed of what we do and how we serve the people of Utah!
What is UAHU doing:
1. We have hired an Executive Director to help us with the many functions of UAHU that require year to year continuity. I am very pleased to introduce to you Martine Smith. She has much experience in the political arena and in organizing functions, events and managing a team. We are very excited to have her as part of the UAHU family. She will be a great asset to us in many ways. We will give a more formal introduction with her back ground in the near future.
2. We are taking to legislators.
3. We are taking to the carriers.
4. We are talking and working with other associations to inform & educate them to garner their support.
5. We have made an executive board decision and have asked Brad Kuhnhausen to work on an alternative proposal to the exchange/connector proposal and he is willing to take on that task and has been working on it ardently with a collaborative team. Therefore, we have reassigned Brad to work on this most important task and I have asked Ryan McDermott to take over the duties of Co-Legislative Chair to work with Gina Dalton our other Co-legislative Chair. This decision was approved and ratified by the UAHU State Board. I know Ryan & Gina will carry on the work that is needed.
Therefore, I am calling all UAHU members to Action!
What UAHU members need to do:
1. Educate yourself and read the information that we present. Attend your local chapter meetings.
2. Inform your agent friends and colleagues what the issues are.
3. Begin talking to your legislators! This is paramount! Get a feel for what they think about the idea and if they support it, ask why and discover their beliefs so you can help clear up any misconceptions on their part.
4. Talk to your small group clients and let them know what may happen and ask how they feel about that idea. Gain their support and ask them to contact their legislators with their concerns.
5. Visit with the carriers that you do business with to see what they think.
6. Lastly, forgive me for writing such a long article. I do not know how to express myself on this issue in a more concise manner as others might be able to.
This issue will be determined in the legislature. UAHU is working hard in this regard. We will need your help doing this too and we will continue to give you updates.
Ah, September. Did I mention that it means a lot of work too! Well my fellow UAHU members, enjoy those autumn weekends. Winter storms are forming, and I rather it not be the “winter of our discontent”.
Rock on UAHU Rock on! Or should I say, “Game on”!
Ciao.
6-11-07 Enterprise News Paper Article on "Utah Health Insurance Exchange"
Attached is an article that was in the Enterprise on 06-11-07 regarding the “Utah Health Insurance Exchange” that Governor Huntsman wants to implement and has appointed John T. Nielsen to head up his quest. THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS! The idea is for this exchange to take over the whole Individual market and the whole Small Group Market and every small business would be required to purchase their insurance coverage through this mechanism. Yes, you read this correctly! Also attached is some info on Exchange Mechanisms and the legalities of trying to implement them. Please read and become familiar with the content so that can educate your senators and representatives when the time is right to do.
What we at UAHU are doing.
1. Our Legislative team and our lobbyist Mike Sonntag are meeting with our legislators this summer to begin the education process of our concerns with the Exchange model.
2. We have a meeting this week with 3 other associations, 1 that is definitely opposed to this Exchange idea and the other 2 we think that are opposed to the Exchange, but will find out their thoughts and concerns. Hopefully, we can form a coalition of sorts with them.
3. Next week we are meeting with a Utah State House of Representatives to discuss this as well.
4. Then we have been invited to meet with Mr. John T. Nielsen as well the week after that.
As you can see there is a lot to do and we are very involved in the process. We are dedicated to the agent community and to the best private sector solutions possible. We want to help the Governor achieve his goals of insuring more Utahans and believe that the private sector is the best way to achieve it with competition which will breed innovation. NAHU & UAHU is opposed in principal to the government taking over the Small Group Market, but we are willing to be part of the solution in covering more Utahans. However, we do want Utahans to be more responsible for their Health care choices and we are for tools that can help the consumer accomplish just that. If you have any comments please feel free to share those with me. And I will keep our membership appraised of the work and progress in this regard.
Thanks to all again and take care, be safe, and have a great summer!
Sincerely,
Luke McDermott, UAHU President 2007-2008