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Dear Strategic Partners & Staff:
Thank you to everyone who participated in the BCI Annual Symposium on February 16, 2016. We had 76 attendees and are pleased to have received positive feedback from the survey.
During our roundtable discussion over lunch, the top take-away items were:
- Compliance including support, tools, resources, and possible turn-key solutions (ie - ERISA Wrap)
- Ideas for prospecting, rounding out accounts, client retention, and other sources for generating revenue
- Co-Branded Marketing Materials
- Continue to support technology initiatives
- Strategy for moving cases from 4th quarter
- Strategy for offering Fee-Based Services
- Share efficiencies between Account Managers of BCI & Strategic Partners
Your BCI executive team appreciates your feedback from the symposium, as it gives us the opportunity to make a bigger impact on how we support your agency.
In the coming months, please know that we are working behind the scenes to address these particular requests, as well as others that may come our way.
Best regards,
Kerstin Kornblum
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Reminder: Bold and Bright New Website
Don't forget to check out BCI's new
website
! It has numerous advantages
compared to our previous site, including the ability to share important news with clients.
The Important Updates page will have frequent updates for your clients, including employee benefit news, compliance alerts, changes in legislation, and more. Please share the page with your clients to keep them informed.
There is also an Internal News page just for BCI employees and Strategic Partners! This page is password protected and will be used as a central resource for important information. Please do not share the password as it was created just for BCI employees. The password is "!BCIsolutions2016!." Make sure to bookmark the page as updates will be added weekly.
New Business & AOR Notification Process
There are times in which the accounting department receives commission payments before a new case has been logged into the agency database. For that reason, please adhere to the below policy and procedure to improve our ability to pay commissions timely, accurately, and efficiently.
Notify [email protected] for all Group and Individual new business, including AOR's, which BCI reconciles and pays commission for your agency. The following items should be included with your notification:
- Agency & Writing Agent Name
- Company Name
- Carrier
- Policy Number(s)
- Lines of Coverage
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Business Strategy Shared by David Sacks, Zenefits CEO
The attached
client announcement was shared on February 26, 2016, by Zenefits CEO, providing an update on the company's leadership change, along with their new approach to business. David Sacks is a former Microsoft executive and is now the CEO of Zenefits, a software firm.
CMS Announces Transitional Relief Extensions for 2017 Calendar Year
On Monday, February 29, 2016, CMS released a bulletin announcing an extension on the transitional period for non-grandfathered coverage in the individual and small group markets to comply with all provisions of the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), including those related to single risk pools, no later than 2018.
This extension applies to health coverage in the individual and small group market that meets the criteria of the extended transitional policy and associated group health plans of small businesses, if applicable. The extension applies to policy years beginning on or before October 1, 2017, provided that all polices end by December 31, 2017.
Since 2014, and specifically now, CMS has indicated that they will work with insurers and states to implement this policy, including options such as allowing policy years that are shorter than 12 months, or for early renewals with a January 1, 2017 start date.
States can elect to extend the transitional policy for shorter periods than outlined by CMS, but may not extend it beyond December 31, 2017. States may choose to adopt the extended transitional policy in the following manner:
- For both individual and small group markets,
- For the individual market only, or
- For the small group market only.
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Individual Commissions Update for Off Exchange Business
- UnitedHealthcare and MemorialHermann - These two carriers currently pay new business commission for open enrollment and off-enrollment business.
- Aetna, BCBS, Cigna, Humana - New business commission eliminated except for business written during open enrollment.
This is the current status of under 65 Individual commissions for the above carriers and is subject to change at any time. To stay abreast of the changes, read your incoming news and alerts from Benefit Concepts and the carriers.
BCBSTX Eliminates New Sale Commissions for Individual ACA Plans with Effective Dates
April 1, 2016, or After
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas has defined its commission structure for new sales of Individual Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans effective on/or after April 1, 2016. This change does not currently impact policy renewals for individual major medical business (under 65), retail ancillary, nor new or renewal sales in the group market or Medicare market. BCBSTX has yet to make a determination on commissions for new individual sales (under 65) with an effective date of January 1, 2017. For valuable insight, review the below links for helpful information:
New BCBSTX Blue Balance Funded (25-50)
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) just launched Blue Balance Funded, a new BCBSTX Administrative Services Only suite of services for self-funded employers that have established group health plans and meet specific eligibility criteria. For more information, contact your BCBS sales representative.
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Compliance Dashboard: What You Need to Know
Compliance Dashboard's Health & Welfare Employer Flyer discusses the importance of compliance and how it can help. Explore and take advantage of the benefits provided by Compliance Dashboard to keep employers in line with federal regulations.
Contact:
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Zywave Article of the Month
The attached Broker Services Survey is comprised of responses from thousands of Zywave customers. It shares insight about multiple important topics, such as what a client expects of their broker, top reasons why a client leaves their broker, and how often a client expects to receive general industry information from their broker. To learn more about what you can do to keep you client happy, read this great survey!
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Benefit Concepts, Inc.
Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
INTERNAL DISCLAIMER: This message contains confidential information and is intended for internal company use only. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that disclosing, copying, distributing, or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited. Employees and Licensed Agents of Benefit Concepts are expressly required not to infringe or use defamatory language regarding this communication or authorize any infringement of copyright or any other legal right in consideration of this email communication. Any such communication or action is contrary to company policy and outside the scope of the employment or compensation terms of the individual concerned. The company will not accept any liability in respect of such communication or action, and the Employee or Licensed Agent responsible will be personally liable for any damages or other liability arising. Employees or Licensed Agents who are aware of such breach must notify company management.
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