URGENT: ODI Lincense Renewal Notificaito Change- PLEASE READ!

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Communication from Ohio Association of Health Underwriters from 1/13/21:

Beginning January 1, 2021 the Ohio Department of Insurance will begin sending license renewal notifications via email instead of U.S. Mail.  Renewal notification emails will be sent approximately 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days prior to an agent’s license expiration date to email addresses on file with the department. 

This is a departure from the previous notification schedule, which included a 90 day licensure renewal notification via U.S. mail and a 30 day electronic licensure renewal notification. 

What Does This Mean for Me?

If your license renews in November 2020, December 2020, January 2021, or February 2021 you will still receive the 90 day U.S. mail licensure renewal notification, as well as the 30 day electronic licensure renewal notification. 

If your license renews in March 2021 or after you will NOT receive the 90 day U.S. mail licensure renewal notification. Instead, you will receive three electronic renewal notifications — approximately 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days prior to your license expiration date.

Do I Need To Do Anything? 

Yes! Make sure that your contact information is correct, especially your email address.  Please request contact information updates via the National Insurance Producer Registry’s (NIPR) Contact Change tool. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Ohio Department of Insurance at licensing@insurance.ohio.gov or call 800-686-1526.

Dental Care Plus January 2021 Updates

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Dental Care Plus Newsletter from 1/12/21:

January 2021: Happy New Year – Commercial Individual Product Update

The Dental Care Plus Group continues its integration into the DentaQuest family! We are now part of an organization that manages dental and vision benefits for more than 30 million Americans — and we are excited to bring you and your clients the benefits of DentaQuest while maintaining the same local provider network and continuing to provide exceptional service.

On February 1, 2021, the Dental Care Plus Group plans will be available on DentaQuest’s Shop, Quote and Enroll website, and we will launch a new Member Portal.

Additionally – you may notice we’ve updated our overall look and feel. Our materials and communications may look different but will include the essential information you and your clients need.

Please note the following:

Plan Designs:
• DCPG’s individual plan designs will remain the same – how the plans are purchased will change. After 2/1/2021, the DCPG individual dental plans will be offered on DentaQuest’s enrollment platform, Shop, Quote and Enroll (SQE).
• In addition to the DCPG dental plans, there will also be three DentaQuest individual dental plans in Ohio and Indiana – resulting in more options for your clients and more opportunities for you to earn commissions.
• As part of this change, we are excited to offer your clients additional payment timing options your clients have asked for – including quarterly, semi-annual and annual payments. In addition to the timing options, subscribers will have the ability to choose the date the payment is made from their account.
Member Portal:
• Our current individual members will migrate over to the updated portal and will receive timely communication throughout the process.
Personalized URLs:
• Updated personalized URLs will be created prior to the migration date and training will be offered to help you navigate the Shop, Quote and Enroll (SQE) website. Please click here to request a personalized URL to the SQE website.
Customer Service:
• DCPG customer service will continue to use the same phone numbers, aiding in a seamless transition to our parent company’s system. Starting Feb. 1, 2021, all customer service functions will run through our parent company’s system, and all relevant data will be migrated from our current system by that date.
Training Sessions and Additional Resources:
• We will be offering training sessions and additional materials in the upcoming weeks. Dates and times will be available soon.

 

Aetna Med Supp Rate Changes

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Upcoming Medicare Supplement rate adjustments effective 3/1/2021 for the following states:

Florida

Louisiana

Montana

North Carolina

CLICK HERE TO VIEW RATES FOR ABOVE STATES

DocuSign Website Enhancements

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DocuSign will be making some changes to the Home Page of their website sometime between now and January 19th.  The main change will be moving the section where you click to see outstanding documents from the left side of the page to the top of the page.  These changes will not require any action by you and functionality should be remain the same.

For a short period of time, Docusign will offer you an option on the new Home Page to return to the previous version.  This will allow you the opportunity to get familiar with the new enhancements before they are made permanent.

 

If you have any questions please reach out to your Cornerstone Senior Marketing Rep

Devoted Health: Tools to Help For a Successful OEP

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Devoted  communication from 1/7/21:

 

As OEP begins to ramp up, our team is prepared to support you in another successful selling season and provide tools that will help reduce risk of member disenrollments after your hard-earned AEP efforts.

As you know, dis-enrollments are highly unfavorable in many ways. It may not only lead to commissions chargebacks and poor compliance performance, but also poor overall member experience.  As such, we’ve put together a broker toolkit designed for you to help reduce dis-enrollments based on our data:

Members who are at higher risk of disenrollment:

  • PCP Experience: Members who do not see their PCP
  • Plan Engagement: Members who do not engage with Devoted Health
  • Benefits: Members with mismatched expectations or were not enrolled in the best plan for their needs
  • Higher-need members: Beneficiaries who qualify for Extra Help

What can you do to help these members from disenrollment:

Call members to check in:

  • It’s best practices to check in on members who recently enrolled during AEP to ensure smooth onboarding, pre-authorizations were taken care of and PCP appointments were made — you could even warm transfer them to a guide at 1-800-DEVOTED to make sure we take good care of them!
  • Help members to schedule PCP visit during OEP (before March 31st)

Member education events 

  • Encourage members to keep an eye on their email (and our website) for more information about our Music & More member educational  series. We’re planning to host a few virtual performances followed by new member Q&A! https://www.devoted.com/member-events

Remember to log on to our Agent Portal, a one-stop shop where you can view your members and their statuses among other helpful resources. 

Quick Resources 

  • Scope of appointment (English/Spanish)- online version that will email you a copy (instructional video here)
  • Play the full Devoted Sales Presentation Video OR use our handy Flipbook
    • Sales Video (English) — can be downloaded in our marketing portal
    • Sales Video (Spanish) — can be downloaded in our marketing portal
    • Sales Flipbook

Update: SilverScript PDP ID Cards

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We have received word that there is a delay with members getting their SilverScript PDP ID cards via mail. ID cards are generally taking anywhere from 15 – 21 days for them to be mailed out, plus any delay with the US postal mail delivery also.

AGENTS- you can provide a temporary ID card to give to clients that can be used for ALL SilverScript products in the meantime. DOWNLOAD HERE

    *MEMBER NEEDS TO WRITE THEIR NAME AND ID NUMBER ON THE TEMPORARY CARD AND PRESENT AT THE PHARMACY

To register for Silverscript’s member secure website , go to https://www.silverscript.com/member/members   and the member services number is 866-235-5660.

 

Please contact your Cornerstone Service Rep for more information or questions.

 

Medicare Part B: Help your clients enroll during OEP

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Individuals who are eligible but didn’t sign up for Medicare Part B during this AEP, or dropped or lost coverage in the past year, have another chance to enroll! Beneficiaries can enroll in Part B during the Open Enrollment Period, January 1 through March 31 each year. Enrollees’ Part B coverage starts July 1, 2021.

 

Eligible individuals who sign up for Part B may choose how to get their Medicare coverage:

  • Original Medicare includes Part A and Part B. Those who enroll can buy supplemental coverage to help pay out-of-pocket costs. They can also get Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D).
  • Medicare Advantage Plans, sometimes called “Part C” or “MA Plans,” are an “all-in-one” alternative to original Medicare. They are offered by private companies approved by Medicare.

 

Contact your Cornerstone Sales Rep to assist with more information, rates, or supplies for Medicare Supplement, Part D plans, and Medicare Advantage.

NAHU: BENES Act Passes

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Announcement from NAHU from 12/23/20: 

BENES Act Passes Congress

 

NAHU has advocated for passage of the BENES Act and we are pleased to let you know it was included in the final package passed by the Senate early Tuesday morning. We believe its provisions will help your clients who are transitioning to Medicare and those who may need an SEP:

  • The Coverage Gap Closure. The bill eliminates the up to seven-month-long wait for coverage that people can experience when they sign up for Medicare during the General Enrollment Period or in the later months of their Initial Enrollment Period. Beginning in 2023, Medicare coverage will begin the month after enrollment.
  • The “Exceptional Circumstances” SEP. It reduces barriers to care by expanding Medicare’s authority to grant a Special Enrollment Period for “exceptional circumstances.” A long-standing flexibility within Medicare Advantage and Part D, in 2023 this critical tool will be available to facilitate enrollments program-wide, enhancing beneficiary access and administrative consistency.
  • The Enrollment Alignment Study. To further maximize coverage continuity and ease transitions to Medicare, the bill directs HHS to identify ways to align Medicare’s annual enrollment periods. HHS is to present these findings in a report to Congress by January 1, 2023.

Federal Rules Protect People from Bills for the COVID-19 Vaccine

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Article from the KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) published on 12/18/20:

As the first doses of the new COVID-19 vaccine are delivered to health care workers and other early recipients, many Americans are eager to know not only when the vaccine will be available to them but also whether they will be able to get it at no cost.

The answer is that providers are not allowed to charge patients who get the vaccine, at least during the public health emergency, KFF experts write in a new issue brief. But it will be important to drive home that message to the public since some patients have been left with unexpected bills for COVID testing and treatment in spite of federal rules and programs, as well as voluntary efforts by insurers, designed to cover such costs.

Through Operation Warp Speed, the federal government has purchased hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines that are being distributed to providers at no cost. In turn, providers must agree to not charge for the vaccine itself. While providers can charge for the cost of administering the vaccine, private insurance and public programs will cover 100 percent of that cost during the public health emergency.

People who are uninsured also will not be charged for the vaccine. Providers who wish to be reimbursed for administering the vaccine must bill the federal government and cannot bill uninsured individuals. It will be important for the federal government to develop plans to strictly enforce these requirements to ensure that the public receives the vaccine for free as intended.

In the issue brief, KFF experts highlight the laws and regulations that are in place to ensure access to free COVID-19 vaccines for individuals regardless of their insurance status and explain how vaccine administration costs will be covered in private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and for the uninsured.

There will be many challenges convincing people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Fear over unexpected costs need not be one of them.

READ THE ISSUE BRIEF 

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.

CORNERSTONE TECH TIP: Responsible Social Networking

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Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
Chances are you are a member of one or more of these social networks.
Chances are you have posted something about work (positive and/or negative).
Chances are you have friends/followers/connections that are co-workers or your supervisor.

You have the right to remain silent . . .
Anything you post may be used against you, so be careful.
Consider that what you post online to social networks is a body of evidence. If a manager sees negative things being posted about work, it may trigger a meeting.
Be mindful of what you post regarding your company. Do not post anything sensitive about your employer online.
– Attackers use social networking sites to gather information about you and your company and use it against you.

Interview over
Potential and current employers can research your posts and pictures and make a decision on whether or not you get the job, or get a promotion.
If you post pictures of you doing illegal things, or acting overly irresponsible, it could hurt you and your career.
Be mindful of posting strongly opinionated views. This could cause coworkers to feel uncomfortable around you if they do not feel the same way.
– Think carefully about what you are posting and who can see it. It could come back to bite you.

Use what you are given
Most of the social networking sites allow you to only show specific groups of people specific information.
Use this feature. Make as little as possible ‘public.’ Consider separating work relationships from personal ones online.

Be careful what you post online. It could come back to hurt you, or the company you work for. It is perfectly fine to make use of social networking, just make sure to be responsible about it.

Let’s stay safe out there!