Washington State Healthcare Solutions

 We have been hearing some mean rumors about folks telling the unvaccinated that they can not get health insurance. If you lose coverage from a job then it opens a special enrollment and you have 60 days. We have had enough questions that we did a quick 10 minute video on it. For the unvaccinated, the Affordable Care Act protects you from being discriminated against. You can get a individual health plan on the Washington Healthplanfinder until January 15th, 2022. We recommend getting some assistance from an enrollment center as they cost nothing and some areas have over 70 health plans to choose from.  There are some carve outs. Large Group plans can add surcharges for the unvaccinated. Kroger  and Delta Airlines  are good examples of doing a soft mandate.  A Healthshare Ministry while allowed under the ACA is not insurance so if they can change their rules leaving subscribers no avenue of appeal. We do not work with these products because we like regulated pr...

At the Enrollment Center ,  have been seeing quite a few questions about where are we at with COVID-19 in Washington State. We enroll people into Medicare and Health Insurance so we have been on the front lines since last March. So here we go with questions.  1. First and foremost we are in a Special Enrollment Period for Healthcare . If you don't have healthcare then set an appointment and we can get a plan going as soon as possible. We have this Special Enrollment Period until May 15th. It may take a little while longer as there are some approvals in the background that occur during Special Enrollments.  1B Tier 1 currently 2. We are in Phase 2 of reopening in the state using the Roadmap to Recovery . We are not scheduled to be evaluated for another six days.  The key metrics are Trend in Case Rates, Trend in hospital admission, Percent ICU Occupation and Percent Positivity. Currently we have the highest rate of ICU Occupancy at 87%. The lower the Percent Positive...

Expect a lot of junk plans from other sources. A couple of years ago, a group of individuals started the ACA Signup Project. I have helped out at Suzie Health Solutions and have been teaching and enrolling people in healthcare since 2013. There was a great concern that the incoming President would slash funds for the outreach and attempt to sabotage the Affordable Care Act which he campaigned against. Yes, he promised to "Repeal Obamacare from Day 1". Well it is still here and we are always looking forward to more friends joining the outreach effort. Here are some tools that will help. We have made huge improvements In Washington State we have made some huge gains and we are working on making more. We are up to one in four people receiving their healthcare from the Washington Healthplanfinder. It is open year round for enrollment of people that are at 138% of poverty or affiliated with a Native American Tribe. Some of the rural counties of Eastern Washington, we ...

Brokers have always been an important part of the Washington Healthplan Finder . We have education requirements from the state for our license. We receive regular training from the Exchange on how it functions. We receive training from Insurance Companies on how plans functions. It was no surprise that one of the first customer satisfaction survey's rated brokers extremely helpful to 80%  from people enrolling in qualified health plans. Suzie Health Solutions is a no cost broker. The Washington State Auditor's office published it's Performance Audit in 2016 confirming the importance of selecting brokers. Right off the bat on page four, they mention shifting calls to brokers as being a possibility to reduce cost.  Brokers reduce cost by how they are paid. Brokers are paid by commission or charging fees receiving no payment for Medicaid. The exchange on the other hand pays for Navigators and the Call Center which drives up costs (page 28). Certain States improved th...

Reduce your misery We get the flu shot every year. Every year people die from the flu.  “ Last year the flu killed 296 people in Washington and thousands more were hospitalized", said Dr. Scott Linquist, the state epidemiologist for communicable diseases. Getting an influenza vaccine — though not 100% effective — is the best way to prevent the misery of the flu and its complications. We don't like being miserable nor do we like inflicting misery upon others. We work with a lot of different people and some have compromised immune systems and we want our office space as safe as possible for others. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone 6 months of age or older be vaccinated annually against influenza. Do you like kids? Well one study showed that flu vaccinations reduced the risk of flu-associated death by half for children with high risk medical conditions and nearly two-thirds among healthy kids. Medical conditions  increasing...

Healthcare is complicated. We have seen marketers and a few insurance companies use the term Trumpcare for the last couple of years with mixed results. There was even the South Florida-based operation called Simple Health Plans that was shut down by the Feds that collected more than $100 million. ( Seriously, read this before putting your information on an unknown site .)I am going to talk about a few of the niche markets being pushed by the administration. 1. Short Term Plans - In Washington state, these plans are heavily restricted. We are talking 90 day non renewable. They can exclude pre-existing conditions and can exclude treatments and overages. As I write this I am aware of 1 company offering a plan that has made it through the Office of the Insurance Commissioner's standards. With the amount of coverage excluded, we feel that a customer is best served by purchasing a full health-plan for a short period of time. We have had new customers come to us over the years...

On September 12, 2019 the Office of the Insurance Commissioner approved the plans with a record low rate. The average rate of decrease for theplans was 3.27% . We have insurance companies expanding their coverage . The W ashington Health Benefit Exchange Board later approved the plans .   Remember, we all get one year older every year so do not count on a full percentage decrease.  Open Enrollment is November 1 st through December 15 th grab an appointment today . Heavy Enrollment in Eastern Washington in 2019 This is good news to all our customers in Washington State.   It shows the individual market on the Health BenefitExchange is stabilizing. There have been proposals for Reinsurance and adding a state individual mandate both of would lower prices.   We will see if the Legislature takes the necessary steps to further lower rates. Customers will be able to enjoy the lower rates starting January 1 st , 2020.   We like to focus on the ex...

What if you could walk into an office and get your questions answered about Healthcare at no cost? It's not complex most companies has someone that does Human Resources. They enroll you in healthcare, have the occasional survey to fill out and remind you to turn in documents. If this personal HR office was not connected to a workplace then it would have to be in a safe place, hold regular hours, easy access and not charge extra fees. In 2016 the Washington Health Plan Finder launched nine store fronts with that idea. The majority were located on the Westside. Suzie Health Solutions jumped at the opportunity. We started this entire thing because a client asked us how healthcare would effect them. We thought we would be a good fit and the Washington Health Plan Finder selected us to run Suzie Health Solutions in Wenatchee.  In 2018 the Washington Health Plan Finder expanded the model into Full Service Enrollment Centers . There are only 10 locations with ours located in ...

What were you doing August 08, 2013? I was driving a couple of hundred miles to Olympia to test the Washington Healthplan Finder . There were four brokers in the room. As we walked through it, we built a list of questions/problems to help the exchange get better. The biggest shocker was what we were expected to do for free. Before the ACA brokers received payment for helping people enroll in Medicaid. Most people can't imagine getting paid for 1/4 of their work but it is how we keep our doors open.  I think I am the only one left writing individual healthcare. The only other one that is in the business in Tacoma does mostly large business solutions.  Pre ACA Problems The early days were wild. I had to create flyers from next to nothing. We did our best to go out and educate the public from radio interviews at KPQ in Wenatchee to Front page in the Wenatchee World. We did classes at the local YMCA , libraries and Rotary Clubs. Honestly, the worst experience was at my ...

Today is myth busting for the price of healthcare in Washington State. We run Suzie Health Solutions , a Full Service Enrollment Center in Wenatchee, WA . We are trained and answer questions all year round for our clients. It is like having your personal HR department that works for you.  In a recent survey of Uninsured , 2 out of 3 didn't even try to get healthcare with 1 out of 3 thinking price was a problem. The majority probably qualified to get reduced cost or no out of pocket to them. I found it a little strange that people didn't know what their options were deciding to gamble with a solutions. I don't want my neighbors to not get their kids to the doctor because they didn't get healthcare during open enrollment.  We make it easy to get help. Open Enrollment is very short running November 1st through Dec 15th for Healthcare. Medicare Enrollments are October 15th through December 7th. Outside of that time frame, you need documented reasons. It is wh...

I see more value to using the established systems than trying to recreate the wheel. Most of us insurance professionals are using exchanges so we just have to work on making it consumer friendly. I know that the brokers are a dwindling resource because most get torn up between customer needs and insurance company’s demands. Some companies have failed to pay brokers as they rely on the exchanges for their sales force, while others that have reduced their support to the point that some brokers have had to resort to charging additional fees to keep the lights on. If you ever need any help or want me in the room then let me know and we will be happy to be a resource for you. Here are a few talking points to improve the current system. –Matt McColm at www. Wahbroker.org A. The high risk pools proven to be unsuccessful in providing affordable service to the small population that they served. We recommend reinstating the reinsurance corridors to the companies participating in the Health ...