You no longer have to go to Healthcare.gov to sign up or renew your health insurance.The government given back control to the brokers and the public. You can now once again pick a plan and get your subsidy in minutes. CLICK the INSTANT QUOTES tab at the top and run your rates and sign up in five minutes. And you get a actual Health Insurance Broker that you can call to ask questions and advice on filing claims and it does not cost you a dime more. My name is Scott Thiltgen and I have been a Health Insurance broker for 24 years in Texas and licensed with every health insurance company in Texas.
The 2018 open enrollment period is not scheduled to begin until the fall of 2017. … Shorter open enrollment period for 2018 – The 2018 Obamacare open enrollment period is currently scheduled to run from November 1, 2017 through January 31, 2018
A web–broker is an individual agent or broker, a group of agents and brokers, or a company that is interested in providing a non-Federally-facilitated Marketplace (FFM) website to assist consumers in the qualified health plan (QHP) selection and enrollment process as described in 45 CFR.§ 155.220(c)(3).
Licensed agents and brokers who are registered with an FFM may use a web
-broker’s Internet website to assist consumers with applying for insurance affordability programs, including
the selecting QHPs through the FFM and applying for the premium tax credit and cost
-sharing reductions.
•
In addition to the Marketplace website, QHP issuer websites, and the Marketplace Call Center, web
-brokers provide alternative means to enroll in coverage through the
Marketplace.
•
Web -brokers can also offer additional decision support tools
that the consumer can use to navigate or refine the display of
QHPs.
Once the Web
-broker Agreement is fully
-executed (i.e., signed
by both parties), CMS considers the prospective web
-broker to
be an official web
-broker and adds the web
-broker to the Web-
broker Public List upon the next update.
No, the promised “repeal and replace” of the ACA (also known as Obamacare) hasn’t happened yet, but Mr Price’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) has issued proposed guidelines that would affect consumers during 2018’s Obamacare open enrollment period.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has led to the creation of more acronyms in health care during the past five years than, perhaps, in the last 10-20 years. One of the newer acronyms is WBEs, which refers to Web Based Entities and sometimes, alternatively, to Web Broker Entity.
So, what is a Web Based Entity?
It’s an organization that has been awarded a Federally Facilitated Exchanges Web Broker Entity (FFE WBE) Agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
CMS is the federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) that is responsible for administration of health care reform under the ACA.
WBEs are certified by CMS to connect consumers directly with the federal health insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov, and federally facilitated, federally supported, and partnership exchanges in the states that did not set up their own state-based marketplaces.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, as of April 2016 there are:
- 12 state-based marketplaces
- 16 state-based marketplace-federal platforms
- 6 state partnership marketplaces
- 28 federally facilitated marketplaces
Operating under strict security guidelines, including the 135-page Minimum Acceptable Risk Standards for Exchanges (MARS-E), WBEs help states reach their ACA enrollment goals and help brokers assist more consumers in finding the health insurance they need.
WBEs are held to the same security standards as a state-based exchange and are subject to CMS audits and process documentation requests on demand. If a WBE fails to comply with federal guidelines, it can result in substantial fines.
CMS review and certification occur annually and the list of 2016 approved WBEs includes more than 80 organizations, including Quotit and its sister company, HealthCompare Insurance Services.
What’s in it for you?
WBEs offer independent, licensed agents – of every size, in every state – the ability to help consumers enroll in the federal exchange and dozens of federally facilitated and partnership marketplaces.
Current roster of licensed users includes thousands of insurance professionals from coast to coast as well as several national Web Broker Entities assisting consumers looking to enroll in the online marketplaces nationwide.
Since that time, agents and brokers from across the country have signed on to use US to help their individual and family plan prospects and customers find and enroll in coverage that meets their specific needs and satisfies the ACA individual mandate.
If you’re considering affiliating with a WBE to expand your service to clients in your area, it’s important to consider everything the partnership might offer you.
For example, not all WBEs deliver online enrollment capabilities; in fact, only about 20 percent have this ability.
Wes offer online enrollment – to the federal exchange, federally facilitated marketplaces, and carriers that offer plans outside of the exchanges.
Other benefits of choosing Us as your WBE partner include:
- Rates and information for a range of carriers and plans – including off-exchange coverage
- Single sign-on access to carriers simultaneously for both on- and off-exchange plans
- Portfolio diversity: Medical, Medicare Supplement (Medigap), Medicare Advantage (Part C), and Medicare Prescription Drug (Part D) as well as Short Term Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Critical Illness, and Accident coverage
- Accurate, up-to-date online quoting and enrollment nationwide
- Secure technology and compliance adherence expertise
- Cross-Sell Engine – you set your own rules to suggest other products to your website visitors based on what’s already in their shopping carts
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and automated marketing tools
- Quote, application, and conversion tracking
