Group Benefits Industry News


October 2017
A Note from The FILCO Executive Team:
It's that time of the year again!  The 4th quarter is when carriers are releasing their new plans, rates, benefit changes, commission and broker bonus program for 2018.  We understand how important this information is to the success of your benefits business, therefore we have been meeting with all of the carriers over the past month to learn about their plans for 2018 so we can advise our broker partners.  We have organized many of the highlights in this newsletter, so please read below.  
FILCO will be hosting a 1 hour webinar on Thursday October 26th for our brokers to provide an overview of some of the significant changes introduced by the NY small group carriers that could have a large impact on the small group market.  The NY small group carrier representatives will be live on our webinar to answer your questions and address any concerns.   In addition, our FILCO calendar has been updated to include registration links for carrier run broker events and webinars you can attend.  
In This Issue
Carrier Highlights 
UnitedHealthcare
Oscar
Healthpass
Emblem
Empire
Horizon
CareConnect
Industry Events 
PEO 4th Quarter Bonus
 Specialty Department 
Senior Care
Voluntary Department  
Always stay up to date with the FILCO Monthly Calendar


FILCO Webinar
NY  2018 Medical Review 
Thursday, October 26th
10 am - 11am

Oscar 
learn more about Oscar's small group and individual products, in one of the upcoming webinars 
Tuesday, October 17th 1pm -2pm
Tuesday, October 24th 1pm-2pm
Empire New York Small Group
Register for one of the upcoming webinar about Empire's New York Small Group health plans for 2018.
Tuesday, October 17th (downstate New York)
Time: 10 am
Thursday, October 19th (upstate New York)
Time: 10 am
Register

HealthPass
Long Island Conference
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Time - 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Registration: 5:00p.m.
Presentation: 5:30p.m.
Networking & cocktails to follow at the  Harbor Club at Prime,
95 New York Avenue, Huntington, NY 11743
New York City Conference
Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Time - 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Registration: 5:00 p.m.
Presentation: 5:30 p.m.
Networking & cocktails to follow
Location: Tanner Smith's
204 West 55th St, New York, NY 10019
Register
FILCO Resources   

FILCO Carriers


Guardian helps members save for college tuition with NO additional cost to employers or members!

Guardian's College Tuition Benefit is now available on these Guardian plans: Dental, Vision, Stop-Loss, Hospital Indemnity, Long-Term Disability, Short-Term Disability, Life, Critical Illness, Cancer and Accident insurance.
Click here to learn more about this college tuition benefit 

Contact FILCO Specialty Department for more information.

Voluntary Benefits 

Renewal season is here!

Your client's insurance costs, deductibles are on the rise with employee wages staying the same. Employers need an affordable solution to protect their 
employees and remain profitable. 

With Hospital Indemnity products employers offer more coverage for employees at a low cost.  Hospital indemnity,  covers  common benefits such as: Hospital stays, doctor office visits, and ER to highlight a few.  

Reach out to Sal, FILCO's  voluntary benefits manager to discuss different options.
347-267-0922

 
Carrier Highlights 

UnitedHealthcare and Oxford:
Bonus Alert: UnitedHealthcare/Oxford recently announced a new broker bonus program for large groups (100+ NY Fully-insured business) that have 75-500 enrolled employees for December 2017 and January 2018 effective dates. The bonus is $2000 per case
Oxford has made it easy for you to find solutions for your CareConnect clients, attached are current CareConnect plans compared to  Liberty and Metro options 

Oscar:
Highlights of the plans 
* NY small group network consists of 31 hospitals, 4,000 PCPs, and 20,000 Specialists and includes top health systems such as, Mt. Sinai, Montefiore, Winthrop, St. Francis, Prohealth, and the Catholic Health Services
* All NY businesses have unlimited/unrestricted access to our NJ Qualcare network
* All Classic and Simple plan members receive $0 copays for PCP and Mental Health visits at the Oscar Center

Empire:
Empire has update their broker tool kits for 2018; there are numerous tools in both the downstate and upstate kits from commission schedule, 1st quarter 2018 rates, eligibility guidelines plus much more to assist you in successfully adding to your book of business  

Healthpass:
Please note due to the market exit of CareConnect the last effective date for writing new and renewing  CareConnect business through Healthpass will be 11/1/2017.  Please see updated rates to reflect this change
Open Enrollment Period opportunity for Healthpass/CareConnect clients with effective dates of 2/1/2017-10/1/17, will take place in the beginning part of 2018 details to follow as soon as they become available 

Emblem:
Please note Emblem has recently updated their commission system, this update requires all currently appointed brokers to be reappointed.  Please click on the following link to become appointed with no disruption to your broker commissions 

Primepay:
Priemay is running a promotion for new business submitted for Nov. 1, 2017 through Jan. 31, 2018
  •  All Setup Fees are waived for any new FSA, HRA, HSA, COBRA or ERISA services: up to a $500 value!
  • Referred Client will receive a $100 Invoice Credit if 2 or more services become effective during the promotional period
  • Any new business FSA, HRA, HSA, COBRA or ERISA becoming effective during the promotional period will receive a 2-Year Rate Guarantee
  • For Broker concierge partners, $100 Gift Card for each eligible service mentioned above including any payroll referrals.
  • A minimum of 3 Closed Referrals during the promotional period is required to become eligible.
  • The Top 3 referring Broker Concierge Partners during the promotional period will earn a $500 Gift Card

    Not a Broker Concierge partner? Not a problem, it is easy  to get appointment, no cost and no minimums.
*Please note this promotion is for business not previously quoted.  

CareConnect:
Please note as of 12/1/17 CareConnect will no longer be accepting new small and large groups 
CareConnect Market Exit Dates:
Small Group: (On and Off Exchange): Market exit effective 11/30/17.
Large Group: Market exit effective 11/30/17.
Individual (On and Off Exchange): Market exit effective 12/31/17.
Inforce groups will continue to be serviced and coverage will end the last day of their policy years. For example a group written or renewed 9/1/17 will remain in-force until 8/31/18.
Commissions and overrides will continue to be paid at their current levels until group policies terminate.
Early terminations and rewrites will not be accepted.

PEO Update

What time is it? It's 4th Quarter PEO Bonus time! 

Several of our PEO partners have added incentives to entice your clients to move over to a PEO in the 4th Quarter:

 
TriNet
GA EXCLUSIVE! TriNet is awarding a one time ADDITIONAL 5% commission on the adm fees to any of our Brokers that closes a case for the 4th Quarter. This case needs to be registered with FILCO first to be eligible for this bonus. Minimum of 5 lives enrolled to qualify. This bonus will be awarded in a lump sum payment in Feb 2018 and will be in ADDITION to the 15% adm fee comp currently paid.

Prestige
Prestige is offering a free vacation to Punta Cana for any Broker that enrolls a client with over 200+ employees with Prestige. Brokers that enroll 100+ employees will receive $1000 and Brokers that enroll over 50+ employees will receive $500! WOW!

Oasis
Awesome News!! Oasis is rolling out a newly increased commission structure for any new business quoted for any client that currently has AETNA (not enrolled with another PEO) for NY groups under 100 lives! You can earn a higher $26 PEPM per employee AND 15% on the adm fee commissions!  You could even receive the FULL initial set up enrollment fee charged (up to $100 PEPM). As you may recall, AETNA promoted its PEO partners with AETNA in their last Broker blast.  Oasis is one of their sponsored PEOs to participate in earning EXTRA commission as part of this program! AMAZING!
Contact Colleen Visconti FILCO's  knowledgeable PEO Sales Manager 732-704-5079
Specialty Department Update 
Horizon BCBSNJ

Horizon NJ Dental, Life and Vision Bundles (Health Plus Plan)


During this renewal season do not let the opportunity to add additional lines of coverage pass you by
Horizon NJ Dental, Life and Vision Bundle
 12/1 and 1/1 renewals are approaching quickly.  Contact FILCO specialty for strategy and cross-line opportunities 
New Business: Andrew Guarini, direct line 732-704-5073
Existing Business: Christa Wilson, direct line 732-704-5074

Senior Care Update 

AEP is here! 

Starting October 15th through December 7th Medicare recipients can enroll into a Medicare Advantage or a Part D Prescription plan for the first time or they can switch their current plan. With over 3.4 million Medicare members in NY and 1.2 million in NJ, this means a tremendous opportunity for brokers in our area. FILCO's Senior Care Department has been gearing up all summer and we are ready to sell the 2018 plans. Contact us to learn more about benefits, rates and what's new in your market.


FILCO Senior Care Team
Cheryl Dickscheid:(646) 658-6921 |Michael Friedman:(347) 738-6846 | Howard Roth:(646) 658-6915

NAHU Update

NAHU NY Market and National 

National News: Dr. Tom Price resigned his position as Health and Human Services Secretary. Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, Don Wright, will serve as acting secretary until a new nominee is confirmed by the senate.
  • Senate Republicans scrapped a vote of the Graham-Cassidy plan to repeal/replace the ACA. NAHU's primary concern remains focused on market stabilization. NAHU Press Release
  • Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) continued legislative negotiations to stabilize the market, including a potential temporary funding of the ACA's cost sharing reduction payments
If you say "can't" you're restricting what you can do or ever will do"
--Michael Phelps 

Fiduciary Intermediary Ltd
NYC Office: (212) 972-1970 | NJ Office: (732) 219-6545 | www.filco.net  | help@filco.net