Healthcare Happy Hour

We hope you enjoyed our Annual Convention in New Orleans at the end of June, and we hope you had an excellent Fourth of July. We did not host an episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour podcast last week, but that’s because we’ve been busy with our brand-new State Legislative Tracking Tool, available now on NABIP.org. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Senior Director of Government Affairs Husni Abdelaziz is here to discuss the tool and how you can leverage it to stay informed and engaged with the legislative process in your state and region.

On Wednesday, the House passed the Employer Reporting Improvement Act (H.R. 3801), a bill that provides much-needed relief for employers by easing certain aspects of the reporting requirements under Section 6055 and 6056 of the ACA. This has been an issue that NABIP has been active in for several years now, and for employer-reporting legislation to make it this far is truly exciting. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NABIP lobbyists John Greene and Michael Andel are here to discuss the bill.

This week is Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Marcy M. Buckner’s last here at the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals. For several years, Marcy has been one of the premier voices on the Healthcare Happy Hour podcast – but that has just been a small piece of her duties at NABIP. After over 11 years, Marcy has left a substantial legacy and everyone, from staff to members, are sad to see her go. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Vice President of Congressional Affairs John Greene and Marcy review some legislative and regulatory successes that NABIP has had during her tenure, as well as some fun and emotional personal anecdotes.

Earlier this week, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Employer Reporting Improvement Act which will simplify employer reporting on health insurance coverage. This is a priority that NABIP has long advocated on behalf of. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner discusses what this big win means, along with details of what’s included in the bill and future steps.

NABIP’s Annual Convention is rapidly approaching – our first Convention as the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals! We hope that all our listeners are planning on attending Convention, which will be held June 24 through 27 in New Orleans, Louisiana. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Dan is joined by NABIP Chief Information Officer Illana Maze to discuss the Convention and all the great speakers and sessions that come with it! Register for Convention at https://www.nabip.org. The deadline to register online is June 16. On-site registration will be available but will increase by $50.

In a recent benefits survey, 92 percent of respondents said that benefits were important to their overall happiness on the job. In today’s world, that means offering benefits that go beyond health insurance. For those that work in the group market know that employers are always looking for interesting and useful supplementary benefits to attract the best and brightest employees. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by Heidi Sirota and Andee Gravitt from Nationwide along with Adam Sheehan from AccuRisk Solutions, to discuss how to best leverage employee benefits portfolios to optimize employee retention. Sponsored by Nationwide *Nationwide has received the DALBAR Plan Participant Service Award from 2014-2022. This recording is educational in nature and is not designed or intended to provide financial, tax, legal, accounting, or other professional advice. Nationwide and its representatives do not give legal or tax advice. An attorney or tax advisor should be consulted for answer

Earlier this week, a federal appeals court issued a stay on a lower court ruling that struck down provisions of the ACA’s preventive care mandate while it reviews the case. Meanwhile, NABIP submitted more written testimony to Congressional committees on a variety of topics – including direct primary care and hospital consolidation. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner discusses the ACA case and its implications, along with the details of our statements for the Congressional Record.

May 11 was the official end date of the public health emergency that has been in place for over three years. There are several temporary health policies and flexibilities impacting Medicare, group and individual plans that were put into place during the pandemic. Do you know which ones are affected by the national emergency as opposed to the public health emergency? Do you know which flexibilities will expire when? In this excerpt from NABIP’s April 20 Compliance Corner webinar, NABIP Legislative Council Manager and CEO of MZQ Consulting Jennifer Berman discussed the end of the emergency periods in detail. Watch the webinar in full on NABIP.org!

Did you know that NABIP regularly submits written testimony to Congress ahead of relevant healthcare hearings? From small-business tax credits to Association Health Plans to mental health network adequacy, NABIP submits statements to Congressional committees when they are debating policy that impacts our members. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NABIP Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Marcy M. Buckner is back to review our latest testimony.

North of 175 million Americans receive their health coverage through their employer, among a host of related benefits. Agents, brokers and other insurance professionals who work in the employer market understand how important it is – for both the employer and employee – that a company can provide top-tier health benefits. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by special guests Elizabeth Hodges and Derreck Smith from Nonstop Administration and Insurance Services to discuss how benefits can be recession-proof, how you can be a more trusted advisor to your clients, and what Nonstop Health can do for you. This week's episode is sponsored by Nonstop.

As we have discussed a few times on the podcast, we are amid what is being referred to as the “Medicaid Unwinding,” where tens of millions of Medicaid beneficiaries are having their eligibility redetermined. CMS estimates that nearly 15 million individuals are poised to lose coverage over the next 12 months following the end of a major public health emergency flexibility, and many of those beneficiaries will be looking for new health coverage in the individual market. On this week’s Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by special guest and member of NABIP’s Legislative Council Joshua Brooker to talk about the unwinding period from the agent’s perspective.

President Biden signed a resolution on Monday ending the COVID-19 national emergency earlier than scheduled… but the public health emergency is still set to expire on May 11. What’s the difference? On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Vice Presidents of Congressional Affairs John Greene and Michael Andel review what the end of the national emergency means, in addition to reviewing some NABIP-supported legislation that we need your help getting passed.

On Wednesday evening, CMS released the 2024 Medicare Advantage and Part D Final Rule, which contains several provisions that are directly relevant to our Medicare members. We discussed the regulation back when it was just a proposed rule in late December and – on this week’s Healthcare Happy Hour – NABIP’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Marcy M. Buckner is back to discuss the final rule and what you need to know!

Do you own your agency? Are you interested in selling your business, or is there a potential acquisition in your future? Last week, Rick Israel joined us to discuss the importance of succession planning in your business. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by NABIP Past President Beth Ashmore, whose agency in Lubbock, Texas, was acquired not too long ago. She is on the podcast this week to discuss the acquisition and important factors to consider before selling.

Do you own your agency or business? Have you thought about succession planning – even if you are young? On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by Rick Israel – principal of South Florida Affiliated Health Insurers, Medicare adviser and NABIP member – to talk about the perpetuation of his father's business (now his business). Rick’s story serves as a poignant reminder to all independent agents on the importance of having a plan for your business in the unfortunate event that something happens to you.

Under Section 204 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, employer-based health plans must submit certain information about prescription drugs and healthcare spending. This data submission is known as RxDC reporting. During yesterday’s Compliance Corner webinar, NABIP Compliance Corner members Barb Gerken and Samantha Malovrh discussed RxDC reporting, who is responsible for this reporting, and how to maintain compliance. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are providing a snippet of the 60-minute webinar! But RxDC reporting is not the only topic that the compliance gurus covered - we are just a couple of short months away from the official end of the public health emergency that was prompted by the pandemic. What happens when the emergency period ends? Watch the rest of the webinar to find out at www.nabip.org!

As we talked about during last week’s Capitol Conference recap with Greg Stancil, NABIP had some amazing speakers at this year’s conference. Many of them took questions, but unfortunately time constraints prevented us from asking those questions. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NABIP’s Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Marcy M. Buckner reviews some of the questions that we were not able to get to.

This episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour was recording live at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, on the last day of NABIP’s 2023 Capitol Conference, where hundreds of insurance professionals showed to make their voices heard! In our official Cap Con recap, NABIP's Marcy M. Buckner and Dan Parker are joined by Legislative Council Vice Chair Greg Stancil - who also served as this year’s Cap Con chairperson - to discuss the event.

NABIP’s Capitol Conference is just a few days away! Will you be attending this year? We certainly hope you are. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NABIP’s Husni Abdelaziz and Dan Parker review what you need to know about the event before you go. If you are interested in learning more about our federal talking points, please listen to the February 10 edition of the Healthcare Happy Hour.

We hope you’re looking forward to NABIP’s Capitol Conference from February 26 through March 1! We will cover everything you need to know before you go on next week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour. But today we have another topic to discuss: At the end of December, we discussed a new proposed rule on policy and technical changes to the Medicare and Medicare Advantage programs. There were a few provisions in this draft regulation that directly impacted independent Medicare agents. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner returns to talk about the comment letter we just submitted to the administration with our questions and concerns with this proposed rule.