Exchanges remember agents

At this point, the unpaid commissions amount has shrunk to about 15 percent of the commissions due amount, officials said. The exchange has the equivalent of 17 full-time employees working to resolving the remaining problems. 

Officials said the delays were caused by many different factors, including insurers postponing the dates when coverage took effect; consumers failing to pay their premiums and losing their coverage; problems with clients having multiple records; and insurers paying commissions on the wrong family member’s account.

In Washington state, the board of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange talked about agent/broker strategy. The exchange staff in that state does not that think it can create a direct broker interface for its enrollment system, so that brokers can have consumers sign up for coverage through the brokers’ own public exchange portals.

Members of the exchange staff said they can accomplish other items on a list of proposed tactics, such as:

• Moving resources for producers that are now located in many different places to an existing exchange broker site.
• Giving producers the ability to submit questions online, through a fillable form.
• Giving producers the ability to share their computer screens with clients during the application process.
• Improving producer support services, such as adding in-person field assistance, technical advice, and help with account password problems.