Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel? You’re in luck. The San Diego Association of Health Underwriters hosts its virtual sales expo tomorrow May 6. Register here.
Furthermore, LAAHU’s virtual symposium is May 13-14. California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara keynotes. Register here.
And the fun doesn’t stop, either. CAHU’s virtual capitol conference is May 17-19. Register here.
COVID
Folks are Starting to Make Predictions for Rest of 2021
ThinkAdvisor notes that insurance executives are voicing cautious optimism lately. The COO of Aflac recently said that in the United States small businesses will likely be in recovery mode for most of 2021, and larger businesses will focus on getting employees back to the worksite. In effect, don’t expect a hyper-focus on employee benefits. But a CNO exec noted that long-term care insurance sales have increased and life sales are up to $53 million, from $41 million. No surprise, both Aflac and CNO reported much stronger earnings for the latest quarter than for the first quarter of 2020.
COVID Silver Lining
LexisNexis® Risk Solutions released its 2021 “Future of Claims Report,” laying out how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated claims automation. The report contends that while COVID-19 forced some insurance carriers to change how they processed claims, that change may not be a competitive advantage.
Homebound People Need Help Getting Vaccine
Kaiser Health News has an excellent story up about a big gap in vaccination outreach. Homebound people are not being offered a way to easily get vaccinated. From the story:
Even as the nation has moved on to vaccinating everyone 16 and older, the vast majority of homebound people have not yet been vaccinated, said Kelly Buckland, executive director of the National Council on Independent Living. “As far as I can tell, no one’s really doing it. Maybe a few places in the country, but not on the mass scale it needs to be.”
Read the whole story here.
CAL BROKER
Take Our Survey & You Might Win $
We’ll stop bugging you about this soon. But, for now, if you haven’t had a chance to answer the super quick Cal Broker survey, there’s still time! Furthermore, if you take the 2021 California Broker reader survey you can enter to win $500. Thank you!
TELEHEALTH
Telehealth Claims Dip
Telehealth is here to stay, but that doesn’t mean it will dominate. In fact, telehealth claim fell 15.7% nationally, decreasing from 7% of medical claim lines in January 2021 to 5.9% in February, according to FAIR Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. It was the first month-to-month drop in national telehealth utilization since September 2020. Telehealth usage also declined in all four U.S. census regions, with the greatest drop in the West, where the decrease was 18.3 percent. The data represent the privately insured population, excluding Medicare and Medicaid.
Another change from January to February 2021 was the disappearance of COVID-19 from the top five telehealth diagnoses. The change coincides with the national drop in COVID-19 cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in February.
PLAYIN’ BALL
Anthem Goes All-In with Oakland Roots
Oakland Roots Sports Club announced that they have formalized a multi-year partnership with Anthem Blue Cross. Anthem will serve as Oakland Roots official health care benefits partner and as Roots Inaugural USL Championship Front of Jersey Sponsor. The agreement represents the first jersey sponsorship secured by Roots since earning formal entry into the USL. For those of you who might now know, we’re talking about soccer here. The partnership will run from Roots inaugural season in the USL Championship through the 2023 season.
The collab is founded on the shared goals of Anthem and Roots to help bring physical and mental health support and services to communities as they recover from the pandemic. Both pledged to jointly support efforts aimed at making a measurable impact through education, awareness and community health and wellness engagement initiatives. For more information visit Oakland Roots.
JOBS
NAAIA Spring Career Fair
The National African American Insurance Association is hosting a career fair on May 25, 11-12:30 PT. (Note that the organization is based on the east coast, so we’ve translated the time.) Looks like a great opportunity to connect for positions from internships to seasoned professionals. Register here.
GOLF
IICF Golf for a Great Cause
The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation is hosting its annual Insuring The Children Golf Tournament on September 14 at Arroyo Trabuco in Orange County. Proceeds help fight child abuse and neglect. We say you should get out there and golf. More info here.
COVERED CAL
Covered CA Targets Communities in Need
Covered California launched a new television ad campaign to raise awareness in California’s Asian American community about the new financial help now available through the American Rescue Plan. “We are reaching out to California’s Asian American community to make sure that everyone in the state knows about the new and expanded financial help provided by the American Rescue Plan,” said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California. The new law provides the most significant consumer cost savings since the Affordable Care Act began. The ads highlight how 400,000 Asian Americans can now get lower health insurance premiums starting June 1. View the ads here:
PEOPLE
Warner Pacific Promotes Papenfus, Adrian & Rodriguez
Westlake Village-based GA Warner Pacific announced three of its team members will now have C-suite positions. Jeff Papenfus now serves as Chief Business Development Officer, California. Debbie Adrian is now Chief Operations Officer, and Memo Rodriguez is Chief Information Officer. Congrats!
EVENTS
- San Diego Association of Health Underwriters Sales Expo, Virtual, May 6. Info here.
- Los Angeles Association of Health Underwriters Annual Symposium, Virtual, May 13-14. Sponsorship info here. Register here.
- CAHU Capitol Summit, Virtual, May 17-19, Info here.
-
IICF International Inclusion in Insurance Forum, June 15-17. Register here.
- BenefitsPro Broker Expo, virtual one day May 18 AND in person in San Diego, August 16-18. Save 15% with promo code RIGHTPLAN. Agenda here, register here.
- NAIFA-LA , Building Business Insights (4 advisors/agents share their wisdom on creating a stronger business), Virtual, May 20, Register here.
- American Association for Medicare Supplement Insurance, National Medicare Supplement Insurance Industry Summit, Sept 8-10, Schaumburg Convention Center, Chicago area. Info here
