Happy Spring! I recently attended NAIFA/NABIP-IDAHO day on the Hill February 21st at the Idaho State Capital. I would like to Thank Phaedra Anderson and Angie Jackson for their hard work helping with speakers/sponsor. We appreciate the joint effort of working with NAIFA on this event each year. It is a great opportunity to connect on legislative topics that are of close to home (Idaho) interest as well as get an update from Idaho Department of Insurance. We also had an impromptu opportunity to hear from Hyatt Erstad who is on the board that oversees the high-risk pool for Idaho and how that is making a significant impact on helping keep premiums down for Idahoan’s. In addition, Brett Thomas, who serves on the Your Health Idaho board provided an update on a nice upgrade that Your Health Idaho is looking into making. Legislative updates provided by our State lobbyist Benn Brocksome and Associates were provided regularly throughout the legislative session. Those can be viewed at our State Association website: https://iahu.org/legislative-updates/

A few days later a number of NABIP-IDAHO members left for Capital conference in Washington DC, again Thank you to Phaedra Anderson for helping to coordinate and lead with this and to all those that attended.

We would like to welcome St Luke's Health Plan’s as a new State Gold sponsor, along with Moda Health as a new State Silver Sponsor. We have also added several new Bronze State Sponsors and we appreciate all our State Sponsors, which are key partners in our continued mutual success.

Our state finances are in a good position as we continue to look for ways as a board to achieve our Mission and Vision Statement on behalf of the members we serve. Surprisingly, despite rising costs, through good stewardship we have been able to keep dues the same along with our State Sponsorship packages. The board continues to review ways to maximize member value with the resources we have, while maintaining a rainy-day fund. Access to State board meeting minutes ban be found here: https://iahu.org/meeting-minutes/ Along with our financials: https://iahu.org/financials/

Wendy Leatham, our State executive assistant continues to help keep us organized with minutes, financials, event planning and so much more. Thank you Wendy! The upcoming Symposium April 3rd and 4th is shaping up to be a great event. If you have not yet registered or are interested in having a booth, please reach out if you need any assistance. Stacie Anthony is our Symposium chair and is doing a great job along with the rest of the committee members. As always, it is a team effort and takes the combined effort of individuals willing to lend their time, talent, and resources to improve our members’ ability to meet the health, financial and retirement security needs of all Idahoans.

On a final note, I would like to thank you for your continued membership and support of our industry and serving Idahoans with their health insurance needs. If you know someone that might be interested in becoming a member or renewing a past membership, that can be done here: https://nabip.org/membership/join-now

If you have an interest in getting involved, a great place to start is at your local chapter. Please reach out to your local chapter or State contact if you are interested in serving.

Respectfully,

Ernie C Kroll

NABIP-IDAHO

President 2023-2024

NABIP Idaho VISION STATEMENT:

Through the services of insurance professionals, every Idahoan will understand and have access to solutions for health, financial and retirement security needs.