Greetings! We hear some of you are spending hours on the phone with distraught clients and some of you are cleaning out your closets and doing online exercise classes. And then a bunch of you are now homeschooling your kids. Hang in there. We do have some little rays of sunshine to mention:
CAHU Women’s Leadership Mini-Summit On Facebook Thursday!
CAHU has rescheduled the Women’s Leadership Summit to August, but Dawn Macfarland and the ingenious WLS crew have organized a virtual mini summit to take place on Thursday, March 26, from noon until 2:30 p.m. on Facebook Live. Everyone is invited! WLS will have some of the keynote speakers and a special guest appearance by NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein, along with current NAHU President Pat Griffey. The event will go live in the CAHU event titled “Virtual Preview of WLS 2020,” which you can find out about here. For those of you not on Facebook, please email info@cahu.org for an alternate webinar link. Note: spots are limited on the webinar so please use the Facebook event if you have access to Facebook. RSVP directly in the Facebook event: Virtual Preview WLS 2020. You can also see the agenda here.
LAAHU Offers Stress Reduction Break on Friday Morning!
LAAHU wants to share some positive, peaceful, and meaningful moments to make the current journey more bearable. How better than to have Cal Broker’s own Naama O. Pozniak lead a stress reduction guided meditation journey and talk? The meditation will take place via webinar on Friday at 8a.m. PT. Please log in early so it can being on time. This is free for members, non-members may join for $15. Register here.
How Does ‘Flatten the Curve’ Work? A Visual…
This article from the New Zealand publication The Spinoff has an excellent graphic by cartoonist Toby Morris that shows just how and why social distancing works. And, just in case you want to know, there’s also a graphic at the end that shows what New Zealanders are doing instead of hand shakes.
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Brings Nature to You
This is really cool…the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has launched SBNature From Home. It’s a carefully curated collection of ways to connect to science and nature at this strange time. Please check it out!
LACMA Is Offering Art Virtually
Los Angeles County Museum of Art is also offering a virtual experience. Check it out here. You can even enroll in free lectures and classes. Right now they have one up about Chinese art.
Calling All California Volunteers
If you know medical professionals or others who want to volunteer for the COVID-19 response team in Los Angeles, please go here. For San Francisco and Bay Area folks, here are some ways you can help. Those of you in the Sacramento area, take a look at HandsOn Sacramento. And here is a link to the San Diego COVID-19 Response Fund. Statewide, please check out the governor’s California Volunteers site.
FINANCIAL PLANNING
NAFA Offering Advice — Tune in Thursday for Webinar!
The National Association of Fixed Annuities is offering the webinar Delivering Advice in Times of Uncertainty: Helping Clients Overcome Financial Fears. Thursday, March 26 at 8 a.m. PT. Register here.
Dr. Rick Jensen and Anders Smith of Delaware Life will share insights about helping your clients move from fear to action.
SELF INSURANCE
SIIA Offering Legal and Reg COVID-19 Webinar — Tune in Tuesday, March 31
SIIA will continue its COVID-19 webinar series with episode number two, which will provide additional real time updates focused on legal and regulatory considerations for the self-insurance industry. The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31 at 11 a.m. PT.
This is a follow-up to the March 24 webinar where some information presented was preliminarily. Now that new information is available, SIIA will provide additional guidance and analysis of particular interest to self-insured employers, TPAs and their business partners. The webinar is free for members. Non-members may join for $125. Space will be limited so sign-up early. Please click here to register.
LIFE
Reminder: Clients Might Want to Buy Life Insurance
Erin Ardleigh, founder and president of Dynama Insurance, an independent insurance brokerage firm, emailed us a reminder that as the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly, more people are pondering disaster preparedness options such as life insurance. For clients with coverage, of course, the good news is that there are no exclusions for global threats like COVID-19. But what about the people who don’t have life insurance? Ardleigh says to remind them that there is a way to apply for coverage while still abiding by “social distancing” guidelines.
Ardleigh says this is what she’s telling clients:
- Online Applications Available: Many insurers have accelerated underwriting programs, which are essentially virtual applications where healthy people can complete a phone interview in lieu of a traditional exam. Both term and permanent insurance policies are available, typically for up to $1M in coverage.
- Better Safe than Sorry: We are urging anyone that needs life insurance to consider a virtual application now. Although we have not yet seen increased pricing in states where the coronavirus is infecting so many people, we don’t know what the future will bring.
- Encourage Folks to Research Options: Having some additional life insurance will help clients sleep better at night. Encourage them to talk.
MEDICARE
CMS Releases MA Advantage Guidelines for COVID-19, Expands Telehealth Bennies
CMS has released guidance regarding how Medicare Advantage and Part D Plans can properly respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. A February 2020 report from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention—the largest study of the disease to date—found that a significant 90 percent of cases occurred in individuals 30 years of age or older, with 87 percent between the ages of 30 and 79. It also found that around 22 percent of infected patients aged 70 or older resulted in a fatality. Telehealth benefits have also been expanded for Medicare beneficiaries.
EVENTS
- CAHU Women’s Leadership Summit Rescheduled to August 5-7
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the CAHU Women’s Leadership Summit has been postponed from March to August 5-7, 2020, at the same location, the JW Marriott in Las Vegas. We are hopeful that all current participants, and those who were recently forced to cancel, will be able to join us in August.
CAHU will automatically transfer event registrations to the new dates. If for some reason you can no longer attend, please contact Korey Platt by email for additional options.
If you have any questions or concerns contact info@cahu.org.
- LAAHU 2020 April Annual Sales Symposium Rescheduled to July
LAAHU will postpone the April 22 Sales Symposium, AdapTech until Friday, July 17, 2020. The event will take place at Skirball Center. More info at laahu.org.
- Self-Fund SoCal April 16 Event Postponed
The Self-Fund SoCal 2020 April 16 event at the Woodland Hills Marriott has been postponed. A new date hasn’t been announced.
- Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation Cancels All Events through April
The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) announced it will postpone IICF events planned through April. More info at IICF.org.
- 16th Annual BenefitsPRO Broker Expo 2020 will continue as planned in May
BenefitsPRO Broker Expo 2020 has said so far the show will go on. BenefitPro is scheduled for May 18-20 at the Hilton in Austin, Texas. For registration and general inquiries, please contact: Nicholas Crimi | ncrimi@alm.com | (855) 808-4540; Patrick Matysek | pmatysek@alm.com | (855) 808-4540
