Key Takeaways
- The healthcare landscape is constantly changing, featuring new laws and regulations for brokers to be aware of.
- On top of complex regulations, brokers face multiple challenges when serving their customers, including increasing healthcare costs and changing customer expectations.
- Brokers must stay informed on changing laws and regulations to properly serve their clients.
- Redirect Health and the support of the Care Team make it easier for brokers to navigate challenges and stay informed on the latest regulations.
Health insurance brokers maintain a unique position, as they have to constantly remain on their toes so that they can offer the best products to their customers while staying in line with state and federal laws and regulations.
Health insurance brokers maintain a unique position, as they have to constantly remain on their toes so that they can offer the best products to their customers while staying in line with state and federal laws and regulations.
Healthcare regulations are not always straightforward, and they can change frequently, so it helps to have access to the proper support and information. Fortunately, brokers have multiple resources at hand as they look to provide quality health insurance coverage to their customers and clients.
This guide covers what brokers need to know about navigating changing healthcare laws and how Redirect Health can help.
The Changing Landscape of Healthcare Laws and Regulations
Healthcare laws and regulations are always an important factor for brokers to consider when selling health insurance products. These regulations are constantly changing and evolving, especially since states can implement their own policies, making it even harder to keep track.
Both brokers and the products they sell must meet certain requirements to align with state and national regulations. Some of the most common healthcare laws and regulations address the following areas:
- Sales standards – Brokers are required to be licensed in the state where they are selling insurance products and must be appointed by each carrier they represent. Many states have laws in place emphasizing that brokers must act in their client’s best interest.
- Coverage requirements – Brokers must ensure that they provide clients with plan options that fulfill basic requirements for coverage and that healthcare plans are compliant with regulations under The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and state laws.
Customer information – Cybersecurity is one of the biggest priorities for brokers and providers, as they are tasked with keeping clients’ protected health information (PHI) safe. Brokers gather a significant amount of client information, from medical history to current health records, so they must take steps to protect it.
Understanding changing healthcare regulations is especially important if you sell insurance across multiple states since each state may have its own laws regarding basic minimum requirements for plans. It’s important that brokers work with a provider that understands these regulations and provides support in navigating them.
Challenges Faced by Healthcare Brokers
The changing landscape of healthcare laws and regulations is just one of many challenges facing insurance brokers. To be able to offer the best products to their customers and stay competitive, they must be able to grapple with several challenges.
Increasing Costs of Healthcare
Factors like inflation and the rising costs of goods are affecting multiple industries, and healthcare is no different. The increasing costs of healthcare are a crucial challenge for brokers, as price is one of the first things that people consider when looking for healthcare plans.
Increasing costs leads to higher monthly premiums, deductibles, and copays. These higher costs can make it more difficult to find plans that appeal to potential clients and fit within their budget constraints.
In order to close sales, brokers must be able to offer affordable, high-value products that meet client budgets and needs so that they can access quality care at reasonable prices. Whether you are selling to businesses or individuals, being able to offer an affordable healthcare plan will set you apart.
Changing Customer Expectations
As much as costs and regulations change, customer expectations do, too. Customers care a great deal about paying a reasonable amount for their healthcare plan, but they also expect much more.
Some other important customer expectations for health coverage include:
- Personalized support – Navigating support through automated phone responses and online chatbots can easily frustrate customers. Even with the conveniences of technology, customers want real support from real people.
- Simple access to care – Customers want to understand their healthcare plan and feel comfortable navigating their plan when they need to use it, whether it is through simple customer support or having tools in place to access healthcare providers quickly.
- Technology – Technology and digital solutions can simplify healthcare plans even further. Especially in today’s world, customers expect to be able to navigate their healthcare coverage digitally, whether that means accessing their plan documents, connecting with providers, or receiving customer support.
- Virtual care and telemedicine – Along the lines of access to care and technology, more and more customers expect a telemedicine option as a default component of a health plan, as virtual care makes accessing care more convenient and cost-effective.
- Data privacy – Customers expect that brokers and insurance providers will carefully protect their data and expect anyone they work with to diligently defend their data against breaches.
Customer expectations are constantly changing. Brokers must listen to prevailing customer opinions and follow industry trends to make sure they can keep up with these expectations and continue to offer the right products.
Complex Regulatory Requirements
Regulations are in place to protect both customers and providers. It’s important that brokers stay up to date with changing regulations so that they can continue to provide applicable and quality plans to their customers.
Brokers who do not follow state or federal government regulations can face large financial penalties and even the loss of their sales license. Common regulatory concerns include offering plans that meet minimum coverage requirements and protecting customer information.
Brokers must continuously research changing industry regulations so that they remain in compliance and offer appropriate plans. This continuous research is especially important if you sell across multiple states with varying laws and regulations.
On the bright side, brokers can overcome some of the common regulatory requirements by choosing to work with plan providers that offer advanced industry knowledge and supporting tools.
Redirect Health’s Approach to Simplifying Healthcare Regulations
Health insurance compliance is a complex and dynamic process, which is why we at Redirect Health aim to make it simpler. We offer several resources and benefits that help brokers overcome common industry challenges and complex regulations.
What sets Redirect Health apart is that we don’t just offer affordable healthcare plans—we have extensive industry expertise. We carry that expertise over to supporting our brokers in offering quality products while staying in compliance with healthcare laws and regulations.
Some of the ways Redirect Health simplifies healthcare regulation compliance for brokers include:
- Providing dedicated healthcare consultants with live support for our brokers, making it easy to access support for navigating industry regulations
- Assigning a client success advocate for each client to provide brokers support in assisting clients.
- Maintaining TPA, Medical, and Broker licenses in all 50 states
- Featuring no medical underwriting for our plans, eliminating legal gray areas
- Providing easy-to-access broker resources to answer questions about regulations
- Offering ACA-compliant plans
- Delivering nationwide plan availability
Between our plans and the multiple layers of support that we provide, Redirect Health ensures that brokers stay compliant with regulations and have the necessary guidance if there are ever any questions.
Our team is available and always ready to support brokers in giving their clients the best healthcare experience possible. With our industry expertise, we ensure brokers have the help they need to remain in compliance with healthcare laws and regulations.
Customized Solutions for Brokers and Their Clients
Redirect Health offers several customized solutions to simplify access to healthcare for clients. With an unmatched level of personalization that provides each member and client what they need to access care, our plans provide a welcome option for both brokers and clients.
Accessibility and Support
Everyone deserves easy access to healthcare when they need it. Redirect Health provides unparalleled support for brokers and clients, allowing for a seamless healthcare journey.
From there, we develop and coordinate individual care plans for each member, ensuring they get access to the care they need. This care plan means that we handle all the necessary steps in the process from coordinating appointments, payments, prescriptions, and more. On top of this support, Redirect Health plans also offer clients coverage benefits like:
- Access to no-cost virtual and in-person primary care
- $0 copay for labs and X-rays
- $0 copay for mental health & tele-counseling
- 12 free yearly chiropractic visits
Streamlined Enrollment for Brokers
Brokers love working with Redirect Health because of how simple it is to enroll and manage new clients. To enroll in a healthcare plan, members just need to choose a preferred plan, enter their information, and accept their rate. Plus, with low rates and access to quality care, encouraging new members to enroll is almost effortless.
Our online quote tool allows brokers to easily show new clients what they can expect to pay for our plans, and with no medical underwriting, clients can trust that the rate they’re quoted will be the rate they pay. Rate changes for renewals are also clear and communicated well in advance, making renewals quick and easy.
Broker Tools That Make it Easier for Brokers To Sell
In addition to the support that our team provides, our broker tools make it even easier to sell healthcare plans and manage clients.
Some of the Redirect Health tools and technology that simplify the process for brokers include:
- Online broker portal – This portal allows brokers to stay organized and access all salet information in one place. With this, brokers have the collateral they need to educate clients and employees.
- Quote tool – The quote tool allows you to create a personalized quote for potential clients so they can see what they can expect to pay for a plan in just a matter of minutes, giving them a clear point of comparison to the plan they have now.
- Low rates – Our use of technology combined with our industry expertise allows us to create a model that keeps rates low. This means simpler enrollment, increased member participation, and faster renewals for brokers.
Why Redirect Health is Perfect for Brokers
Brokers face several challenges when striving to offer quality products to their clients, and changing healthcare regulations are a significant factor. Redirect Health helps brokers stay ahead of the curve. Between our helpful broker tools and our 24/7 support, we provide the resources needed to make selling Redirect Health easy.
With our consistently low rates and streamlined access to healthcare, brokers enjoy competitive commissions, as businesses and families embrace the opportunity to save with our plans. Explore our healthcare solutions for yourself, or contact us today to learn more about all the tools, resources, and support Redirect Health provides so you can get started and join our winning team of contracted brokers!
Our Care Team is available 24/7 to provide members the care they need. Accessing care is as simple as initiating a healthcare concern through the Redirect Health Member App. The App makes it easy to get in touch with our Care Team and even connect members with virtual care.