Impact of Healthcare Reform on Brokers

The passage of the Affordable Care Act has bought much speculation in the health insurance industry regarding how healthcare reform will impact current operations. As a general agent or carrier, you can position your brokers to succeed in an exchange-driven marketplace by understanding the implications and opportunities of this legislation.

Capitalize on the Growing Individual and Senior Markets

It is projected that there will be more than 30 million new individual subscribers who will need health insurance by 2014, resulting from the individual mandate. In addition, 50 million seniors will be affected by changes in Medicare. With the introduction of state health exchanges, these individuals will expect to be able to find and purchase their health plans online. Acquire the online capabilities to meet consumer expectations with an exchange that can support both individual and family plans, as well as Medicare offerings.

Maintain Profit Margins

The Affordable Care Act mandates that insurers meet a minimum medical loss ratio of 80% for individuals and small groups. As a result, it will be more important than ever for insurers and brokers to increase operational efficiencies and lower administrative costs — which you can achieve with an online model. Further, you can boost margins through the sale of ancillary products, such as vision and dental plans.

Agent & Broker Ecommerce Solutions

eHealth is helping to guide the technology standard for health insurance exchanges. Take advantage of emerging opportunities with our broker exchange technologies. These cost-effective solutions make the online sale of health insurance easy, while reducing administrative costs.

• eHealth Broker Exchange — General Agents can tap into our preexisting distribution network of more than 180 carriers for individual and ancillary plans. This allows you to offer hosted websites to your brokers where consumers can quote, compare and apply for health plans on-line. Our software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering is quick to implement and includes agent-sales tools to help your agents keep track of their entire book of business. Offer plans online and increase application volumes. Learn more about the eHealth Broker Exchange. 
• eHealth Exchange Utilities — Do you already have an online presence and/or internal IT capabilities? Then, the eHealth Exchange Utilities are designed for you! These services power your own custom exchange by providing back-end integration with carriers, as well as accurate and compliant application and plan data. Learn more about eHealth Exchange Utilities.