The Affordable Care Act is a complicated law.
Many insurance companies are having difficulty first understanding and then complying with the Affordable Care Act. This undoubtedly leaves insured families in an even more confusing position. Traditionally Nevadans have trusted the experience of local insurance brokers to provide unbiased advice about the current insurance market. This includes having a single point of contact to represent their insurance needs throughout the year. This is truer now than ever.
We’ve set up web portals in our office to provide Live In-person Assistance to each of our clients. This is available during this re-enrollment season. Part of our service is to guide you through many of the pitfalls. This includes errors in the website that do not accommodate people’s unique family structures, incomes, and eligibility.
The Affordable Care Act required Americans to purchase health insurance in 2014 or pay a fine.
Due to a large number of anticipated enrollments, several new roles were created by the ACA. This includes Navigators, Enrollment Assisters, and Certified Application Counselors. Each new role is slightly unique, but all are aimed to enroll the uninsured.
Navigators:
According to the Nevada Health Insurance Exchange (Nevada HealthLink), Navigators are responsible for outreach, education, and enrollment for the currently uninsured or underinsured populations. This is an ongoing role provided by the exchange operating funds throughout the year. Navigators will educate consumers about the structure of each plan, but may not make any plan recommendations to consumers based on their needs.
Enrollment Assisters:
Enrollment Assisters provide a similar role to Navigators, however, the position has a limited lifespan, as the grants provided to pay for these assisters will expire. The enrollment assisters may provide guidance to the enrollment process but may not educate consumers about the plan benefits, or provide support to consumers after open-enrollment.
Certified Application Counselors:
The role of Certified Application Counselors is very similar to enrollment assisters. What differentiates CAC’s is that they are typically affiliated with a private company. A physician’s office, for instance, may employ a CAC to enroll patients not already enrolled in a health plan.
Health Insurance Agents and Brokers:
Agents and Brokers provide consumers with trusted advice about their health insurance options. Agents typically offer coverage from a single insurance company, while brokers provide consumers with options from several insurance companies. We as brokers provide coverage options both on and off of the Nevada HealthLink through all carriers licensed to sell in the state of NV. Brokers and agents can make recommendations to Medicaid and/or Nevada Checkup, however, brokers cannot enroll clients in Medicaid or Nevada Checkup.
Roles of Navigators, Enrollment Assisters, Certified Application Counselors, and Health Brokers | ||||
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All of these entities may help you to enroll in a health plan, however, only a broker can evaluate your needs, make a recommendation, and stand by that recommendation throughout the year, all at no additional cost to you.
Our role as brokers has always been to use our 20 years of experience to educate our clients about changes to the health insurance market and to provide Nevadans with the best health insurance options at the most affordable price.
We work hard for our clients to find the best coverage available. Who works for you?
