Looks like California will be the first state to allow some parents to join their kids’ health insurance plans. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Parent Healthcare Act this week, though it won’t take effect until 2023. To be eligible, the parent must rely on their child for at least 50% of their total support. The law applies only to people who buy their health insurance on the individual market. Those who get insurance through their jobs, which includes most people in the state, won’t be eligible.
A previous version of the Parent Healthcare Act, which would have applied to people who get insurance through their jobs, could have increased employer premiums between $200 and $800 million per year. That version prompted the California Chamber of Commerce and other business groups to oppose the bill.
Once the law was narrower, however, the Chamber of Commerce removed its opposition. The California Department of Insurance estimates just 15,000 adults will use the new law, prompting an annual increase of between $12 million and $48 million per year for individual premiums.
JOBS
NAAIA National Fall Career Fair – TOMORROW!
Are you ready for something new? Then check out the National African American Insurance Association Fall Career Fair on Thursday, Oct. 21 from 11 a.m. -1:30p.m. PT. Job seekers register here.
HEALTH
No Need to Fret Over Health Insurer$
Despite the effects of the pandemic and the COVID-19 delta variant surge on U.S. hospitalization rates, it looks like health insurers are doing just fine.
For the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Anthem reported $1.5 billion in net income on $36 billion in revenue (up from $222 million in net income on $31 billion in revenue for the third quarter of 2020). In other health giant news, UnitedHealthcare also posted earnings, showing revenues up 11% to $72.3 billion, with $6 billion in earnings from operations.
DRUGS
Health Systems Steering Prescriptions to Their Pharmacies
Adam Fein over at Drug Channels has a post up that details fresh evidence of how health systems are increasingly steering prescriptions to their own specialty pharmacies. Many you might saying “Well, of course they do!” but we need the facts. So Fein’s post is definitely worth reading!
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Pandemic Fallout: New Focus on Insurance
This is fascinating. New data from the 2021 Aflac WorkForces Report shows U.S. employees now believe the expansion of health care coverage, telemedicine and supplemental insurance is more important today because of the pandemic. Almost half (44%) of all U.S. employees purchased at least one new health benefit in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with half of those adding life insurance. Roughly, one-third of respondents said they purchased critical illness, hospital indemnity, telehealth services or mental health resources.
LIFE
LIMRA Research: Opportunities Abound for Life Sales
New info put out by LIMRA concludes that 10% of middle-income consumers purchased life insurance coverage for the first time in 2020. One in five said COVID-19 prompted them to purchase coverage, and 29% said they were more likely to purchase coverage in 2021 due to the pandemic. According to LIMRA’s 2021 Insurance Barometer Study, 70% of middle-income consumers (household income $50,000 to $99,999) believe they need life insurance coverage and more than a third (34%) say they plan to purchase coverage in 2021. Now for the barriers: perceived costs, other financial priorities and lack of knowledge about how much and what to buy continue to be obstacles to get middle-income consumers adequately insured. A third (33%) don’t think they would qualify for life insurance. The reality is that a large majority of middle-income consumers don’t understand the basic concepts around life insurance and three quarters overestimate the cost of life insurance. Furthermore, LIMRA research suggests that the growing Hispanic population in the U.S. might be a fine place to for a life sales focus. Despite 8 in 10 Hispanic consumers saying they believe they should own life insurance, only half actually have coverage, according to LIMRA. So, there you go life folks…you have your work cut out for you!
INSURTECH
Cal-based Insurtechs Partner Up
Two California-based insurtechs recently announced a collab. Health Gorilla, a provider of actionable healthcare data for life insurance providers, and Optimity, a tech company focused on improving population health, announced a strategic partnership that will enable Optimity’s U.S. clients to collect medical records electronically from Health Gorilla’s clinical network.
Health Gorilla securely provides life insurance underwriters with HIPAA-compliant, permission-based access to medical data through its FHIR-based clinical data APIs. Access to this data will allow insurers connected to the Optimity platform to analyze tens of thousands of care sites where they can retrieve any available medical records that exist for an applicant, which will improve their underwriting, risk assessment, customer engagement and claims tracking.
Optimity offers a dynamic engagement platform that adapts and is personalized to each individual’s lifestyle. The data they collect, and AI platform, provide insights in real-time to enhance their users’ experience and identify life events and risk profiles that accelerate underwriting and pre-approved targeted offers.
This partnership will also provide consumers all the components necessary for a complete applicant journey, access to their digital healthcare data, and allow them to share and track their activity statistics while they pursue health goals.
LTC
Mark Parkinson In Modern Healthcare: Long-Term Care Needs Long-Term Solutions
Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), recently wrote an op-ed for Modern Healthcare. Parkinson says the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated workforce and economic challenges within the LTC industry. Parkinson calls on lawmakers to take advantage of the Build Back Better agenda and pass long-term solutions that will recruit more health care heroes to serve seniors. Check out his story here.
GOOD ADVICE
Wanna Know How to do Stuff better?
This caught our eye today: 8 Rules to Do Everything Better. You have to read it, but there’s great advice in there — including build your tribe and experience joy. Tell us what you think about this or anything else: editor@calbrokermag.com. Thanks for reading!
EVENTS
- Tomorrow! LAAHU carrier panel and lunch..Looking Ahead to 2022, Oct 21, 11am-2pm, Skirball Center Los Angeles, Register here.
- LIMRA 2021 Annual Conference, Virtual, Oct 26-28, Info and registration here.
- SIIA Crowdsource Forum, In-Person, December 6 – 8, Charleston, SC, Info here.
- CAHU Women’s Leadership Summit, March 14-16, Green Valley Ranch, Las Vegas, Info and registration here.
