New Communication Tools

Enrollment System

PlanSource will be performing routine maintenance to the enrollment system beginning Sunday, March 6^th at 8 pm through Monday, March 7^th at 6 am, resulting in downtime. Please plan appropriately as this will occur during the April renewal and open enrollment window.

Arches Liquidation Update

Avenue H was notified on January 19 that Arches was ordered to liquidate. As a result we needed to move everyone enrolled in Arches to a new plan effective February 1. We know that this was extremely short notice and appreciated your assistance in helping employees find new coverage. Collectively we successfully moved all 790 members in this 12 day window with only a handful of employees being defaulted.The carriers received all the new elections timely and issued identification cards.

A few things to note:

The March invoice will include any retro-activity from February, including some adjustments on HSA amounts. Please encourage your clients to review their March invoice carefully when it arrives via email on February 25. If there are issues, please let us know so we can research and resolve them in a timely manner.

Per state code, it’s the agents responsibility to send the Liquidation Order notice to the employer. The agent has thirty (30) calendar days from the date the above notices are sent to provide the liquidator with a certification of mailing, including those sent via electronic email, along with a list of policy holders to which the notices were provided. See https://archeshealth.org/notices.html for more information.

If you have not been paid commissions from Arches, you can file a Proof of Claim (POC) for these funds which will be included in the liquidation settlement process. The claim from is available on https://archeshealth.org/poc.html and must be filed no later than July 14, 2016.

RWJ Summary

Last August Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded a project for a Small Business Health Insurance survey. The study included 821 small employers nationwide via telephone and focus groups in Utah and Maryland where there are functioning SHOPs.

Here are some key findings from the study:

Small employers are evenly split between those offering or not offering group insurance.

9 out of 10 small employers felt coverage was important. Keeping employees healthy and productive, retaining valued employees, and because it was personally important to the employer are the top reasons to offer health insurance.

Finding an affordable plan and being able to control costs are the top motivating reasons for small employers who are not currently offering coverage.

Most employers think their employees may have coverage elsewhere but have not asked to validate it.

If you would like a copy of the study please contact kcarlile@utah.gov.
New Communication Tool

Having a hard time explaining why Avenue H is so great? Well now we have a one piece document that will do all of that for you. This new handout highlights who Avenue H is, the benefits of Avenue H, and some recent statistics as well as maps showing the coverage of our three medical carriers across the state.

There are two versions of the handout, one for employers and another for employees. Go to avenueh.com/brokers-start-here and on the right hand side, under marketing materials you will see both the handouts. One is titled Why Avenue H (Employee) and the other is Why Avenue H (Employer). You can also email kcarlile@utah.gov to be emailed a copy of the handout.
Invoice Credit Process

Avenue H has made some recent changes to how large credits are handled as part of our invoice process. In the past, if a group was owed a credit that was greater than their premiums due for the month, the credit was applied towards future invoice amounts. Going forward, if a group’s total invoice amount is less than $00.00 (meaning a credit owed to them is greater than their premiums due) then the credit will now be paid to the employer in one lump sum instead of applied to future invoices. The credit payment will take place during the current invoice cycle, if change is entered into the enrollment system prior to the 18th of the month.

If we are not notified of the group’s termination prior to the 18th then the credit may not be processed until the following invoice cycle.
July Rate Changes

The small employer rates and plans can change as frequently as quarterly. Filings for changes effective July 1, 2016 will be provided to Avenue H by Utah’s Insurance Department and available in the Avenue H Quote Tool by May 1, 2016. Change in premiums will impact any new groups or renewing groups with coverage effective July 1, 2016.