Brokers must always look for new ways to capitalize on growth opportunities and revenue channels; however, there’s one underserved group of small businesses that many brokerages are overlooking.
The Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement (ICHRA) provides new coverage options for a wide variety of business segments, sizes, and industries. Here’s how your brokerage can adapt to capitalize on this growing movement and leverage the growth opportunities for yourself.
1. ICHRAs and Brokers Come Together
By providing coverage to workers who would otherwise be uninsurable due to their employer-sponsored health insurance, ICHRA quickly grew in popularity among thousands of firms in the United States. With more companies opting for an ICHRA, brokers must keep track of their expanding potential enrollee pool and guide this underserved group of potential small businesses.
Finding That Underserved Market Niche
Many brokers are establishing themselves to capitalize on this new group insurance concept, which will have a significant impact on the future of health insurance.
Given the pandemic’s consequences, many firms are unable to afford expensive traditional group plans. Employers must still find health insurance offerings that include perks and are in line with laws. Traditional group plan premiums can grow at a steady rate, resulting in inaccessible coverage for both employees and employers.
ICHRAs can reduce those group insurance risks and provide the flexibility and cost controls small business enterprises need.
A Growing Pool of Enrollees at Your Fingertips
In recent years, there has been a sizable shift in the types of employees found in various sectors. Many businesses are making adjustments to full-time and part-time workers to better handle payroll and productivity. Others are adjusting their seasonal and temporary employees. ICHRA is an excellent solution for these kinds of company complexities.
Brokers can work with an ICHRA to provide benefits they cannot offer through conventional group plans and help boost participation rates with at-risk groups. An ICHRA may also expand the number of employees a broker can assist by phasing out pricey, traditional group plans.
2. Digital Tools for Improved Customer Service
Small businesses and their employees are also looking for solutions that include convenient digital tools for access, management, and streamlined experiences. The ICHRA model harnesses all these new engagement preferences and puts the control of health coverage and costs back in the hands of the small business and the participating employee. An ICHRA offering to these underserved small group health insurance market players, will also allow your brokerage to tap into the following benefits.
Brokers Help with More Than Just Enrollment
For years, insurance providers have offered internet browsing tools. These were typically beneficial for people who wanted basic explanations of plans, coverages, and pricing.
When things get complicated, as they frequently do in the world of health insurance, consumers are forced to seek out additional sources for assistance. Providers are now taking the necessary steps to integrate new digital technologies into these shopping platforms to assist customers and by providing more in-depth research.
Improving Customer Satisfaction Scores
New technology, especially during a pandemic, provides greater customer satisfaction and feedback. The user experience permitted customers to discover answers to their particular queries, view transparent pricing, and better grasp the coverage choices. As a broker capitalizing on the ICHRA movement, you, too, can extend these enhanced services digitally for continuous improvement of those satisfaction scores.
3. ICHRAs Broaden Your Suite of Solutions
Not every business will be ready to make the change to an ICHRA model. But learning how to adapt now can ensure you’ll be ready with a viable ICHRA solution when they are ready. And you can prepare by bringing all the tools to the table that help reinforce the many ICHRA advantages.
Small Businesses Need Data
This small group of underserved businesses doesn’t just need better, more affordable benefits plans; they need dashboards and data that provide them the insights they need to be nimble and agile. They’ll benefit from enrollment and retention trends, along with reimbursement costs and employee coverage preferences.
As a broker, leveraging ICHRAs, the ACA enrollment directly, and even Medicaid, having simple portals can help you provide that ever-important data.
The Small Group Health Insurance Market Needs Member Information
A strong Broker Portal should provide new capabilities, such as customizable dashboards, while also assisting brokers in excelling at the basics. Allow brokers to quickly gather and organize all their members’ detailed information on a single portal.
One advantage of collecting member information on a single, secure platform is that it eliminates data redundancy and reduces the risk of error. For example, one method W3LL uses to present member data is through a single repository that may be filtered and searched.
Provide Savings Ongoing
To effectively communicate with, provide quotes too, and support members, you must expand your toolset. A fantastic member experience and ongoing assistance may go a long way in determining whether a member loves their broker and health plan. These technologies should be simple to understand and perform quickly. W3LL’s functionality, only requires minimal data from the broker and is built to scale. Brokers are linked to members’ enrollment status and retained if they use an integrated quote tool.
If your brokerage is looking for unique ways to capitalize on the underserved small group health insurance market, consider these suggestions and benefits. And let W3LL be your guide to leveraging every advantage of bringing ICHRAs to the small businesses ready to make the transition.
Pete English
With nearly two decades in health insurance, Pete English’s diverse experience makes him uniquely qualified to help health plans and brokers leverage innovative technology in partnership with W3LL. From growing sales staff by 126% over 4 years at a large health plan, to building his own health insurance brokerage firm with over $7.2MM in annualized premium, Pete has done it all.
(631) 681-4898
PEnglish@w3ll.com
