Healthcare Happy Hour

On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by Brian Luciani, partner at Blueprint Benefit Advisors and vice chair of the Board of Directors at United Benefit Advisors. We discuss UBA, Brian's experience during the pandemic at UBA and his personal business, their Annual Health Plan Survey, and more.

NAHU allies in Congress introduced bills that would address the three-day stay requirement for Medicare beneficiaries who are considered to be under observation status while being hospitalized. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Vice President of Congressional Affairs and resident Medicare policy expert John Greene discusses these new bills and how they seek to resolve this issue.

The Supreme Court finally issued a long-awaited decision in California v. Texas case, the case that could have struck down the entirety of the ACA. Ultimately the Court ruled 7 to 2 to effectively uphold the ACA as law of the land. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner discusses the ruling and its implications moving forward.

On last week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we discussed NAHU’s letter to federal agencies regarding concerns about the implementation of the surprise billing provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. This week, Marcy M. Buckner is back to talk about another comment letter we submitted last week – this one concerning the hot-button issue of broker compensation disclosure. We review the law that passed at the end of 2020 that made these disclosure requirements, what NAHU is doing to ensure it is implemented fairly, and more.

On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour we are revisiting an issue that we have not discussed in detail in some time – balance billing, also known as surprise billing. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, passed at the end of 2020, included a ban on surprise billing, with much of the implementation left up to regulatory bodies. NAHU submitted a letter this week to the relevant federal agencies with comments and concerns about the implementation of this law, and Marcy M. Buckner is here to review.

Last month, NAHU began publishing the State Update, a member-exclusive newsletter highlighting all the relevant political and regulatory health insurance news at the state level. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are joined by Husni Abdelaziz, NAHU’s director of government affairs. Husni monitors legislative and regulatory issues in 30 states, and works closely with NAHU’s Northeast, Midwest and Southwest chapters and their lobbyists. We discuss why NAHU is publishing the State Update and all of the pertinent legislative issues we are seeing at the state level throughout the country.

The Treasury Department and IRS released long-anticipated guidance regarding the full subsidization of COBRA premiums that was included in the American Rescue Plan Act. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, our friends from Compliance Corner -- COO & Compliance Officer of Kirby Employee Benefits Carol Taylor and CEO of MZQ Consulting Jennifer Berman – join us to provide an overview of this new notice and what you and your clients need to know.

In January, President Biden established a new special enrollment period via executive order from February 15 to April 15, since extended to August 15. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, we are highlighting the milestone of 1 million consumers covered on the ACA exchange since the beginning of the SEP. In addition, we preview the next episode of the President’s Perspective podcast, hosted by NAHU President Dane Rianhard and Membership Council Chair David C. Smith. The forthcoming episode will feature Jerald Tillman, founder of the National African-American Insurance Association. Dane, David and Jerald have a fantastic conversation about how Mr. Tillman got his start in the industry, why he feels associations are vital to the industry, why he established an association for black insurance professionals, and the work that they have done. Make sure to listen to the full episode on Tuesday May, 18.

On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein sits down with Perry Braun, executive director of the Benefit Advisors Network. The two discuss President Biden’s first 100 days in office, the impact of the pandemic on our industry, current and future industry trends, NAHU’s advocacy efforts and more. Benefit Advisors Network is comprised of agencies in the employee benefits space that work collaboratively to bring solutions to the complex issues employers are faced with today. BAN has clients in 45 states, the territory of Guam and recently expanded into Canada. Perry Braun leads BAN and has worked in the insurance and healthcare space for 35 years.

The pandemic has made it more evident than ever how important it is to focus on mental and behavioral health. Along with other legislative working groups, NAHU’s Mental Health Task Force, which was first created last year, explores legislative and regulatory developments as they relate to mental health parity in the market. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Dede Kennedy and Tracey Pal Izzi from the task force join us to discuss the task force, the work they’ve done thus far, and the results of an important all-member survey.

Democrats were able to pass the American Rescue Plan Act last month using their razor-thin majority in the Senate by utilizing budget reconciliation. Now, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that Democrats could use the reconciliation process again if they so choose. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, John Greene and Chris Hartmann discuss what could be passed as a result of this ruling.

Last week, the Department of Labor released guidance regarding the COBRA subsidy provisions of the American Rescue Plan, offering much-needed answers to some frequently asked questions agents, brokers, employers and consumers have had over the last month. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner reviews this guidance, what it answers and what it doesn’t answer. To learn more about this COBRA guidance, register for our Compliance Corner webinar on April 29 at 1:00 pm where we will go into greater detail. Please submit your questions about ARP and COBRA to legislative@nahu.org, and we will address it during the webinar.

Congress is out of session this week, but while they are on recess the Healthcare Happy Hour is focused on innovation. On this week’s episode, we are joined by special guest Dr. Daniel Kraft, a Stanford- and Harvard-trained physician and scientist, and the host of CVS Health’s new podcast Healthy Conversations. Dr. Kraft discusses the many innovations in technology that will hopefully bring down healthcare costs and increase positive outcomes for patients, the potential for the FDA to expedite drug approval following the success of Operation Warp Speed, and much more. CVS Health's Healthy Conversations podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.

“Transparency” is the word on this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, as we are joined by special guest Cynthia Fisher, founder and chairman of Patient Rights Advocate, a nonprofit organization focused on transparency in healthcare. In addition to Cynthia, we are also joined by NAHU Legislative Council Vice Chair and staunch transparency advocate Mark Gaunya. The two have a conversation about recent hospital price transparency rules, how transparency can lower healthcare costs and more.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law a few weeks ago, and with it came an abundance of compliance concerns. Last week, NAHU hosted a Compliance Corner webinar presented by Vice President and Director of Employee Benefit Compliance for First Insurance Group Barb Gerken. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Barb joins us again along with Compliance Corner Committee members Carol Taylor and Deanna Sizemore to discuss things in greater detail. This episode is focused primarily on the portions of the legislation that impact the ACA marketplace and COBRA subsidies. If you’re looking for a broader overview of the law, please listen to the March 12 edition of the Healthcare Happy Hour.

This is the second part of a conversation between Marcy M. Buckner, Mark Gaunya and Dan Parker about NAHU’s first-ever virtual Capitol Conference. In Part 1 we discussed what attendees heard from the keynote speakers, members of Congress, Jeff Grant from CMS/CCIIO, and Avik Roy from the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. This week, we are talking about what attendees heard from NAHU’s coalition partners and the fabulous breakout sessions attendees were able to engage with. If you weren’t able to watch all of the breakout sessions during Capitol Conference, they are available to watch on demand until May 23.

We know you anticipated part two of our Capitol Conference recap, but we decided to push that to next Friday, March 19, because earlier this week Congress passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, another immense piece of legislation aimed at providing COVID-19 relief to businesses and consumers. On this week’ episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann discuss the relevant details.

Welcome back to the Healthcare Happy Hour after our short Capitol Conference hiatus. And what a Cap Con it was! We were able to bring to you legislators from both sides of the aisle, innovative thinkers in health economics, a big name from CMS, coalition partners and, of course, our keynotes - Dr. Deepak Chopra and Shasta Nelson. Today Marcy M. Buckner and Dan Parker are joined by Legislative Council vice Chair Mark Gaunya, who also served as this year’s Cap Con chairperson, to recap the event. In the first part of our Capitol Conference recap, we discuss what attendees heard from the keynote speakers, members of Congress, Jeff Grant from CMS/CCIIO, and Avik Roy from the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. In part 2, we will talk about what attendees heard from NAHU’s coalition partners and the fabulous breakout sessions attendees were able to engage with.

We are just three days away from our 31st annual Capitol Conference so if you haven’t registered yet – registration closes tomorrow, so what are you waiting for? Go to NAHU.org now! And while you register, listen to Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann talk about one of the most pertinent issues our industry is facing – the potential for a public option or single-payer healthcare system.

We are rapidly approaching our 31st annual – and first-ever virtual - Capitol Conference. We are reviewing NAHU’s legislative priorities in detail leading up to the conference so that you are prepared for meetings with your members of Congress. On this week’s episode of the Healthcare Happy Hour, Marcy M. Buckner, John Greene and Chris Hartmann talk about what NAHU is asking for in the areas of Medicare, employer reporting, prescription drug prices and more.