Managers of Cover Oregon public health insurance exchange say they are doing better at processing agents and broker commission payments.
Managers of the state-based exchange have included a summary of commission payment performance in a report included in a new board meeting packet:
- In August, the exchange received $874,044 in producer commission deposits and paid about $1 million in commissions.
- In July, the exchange received $824,962 in commission deposits and paid $778,620 in commissions.
- The number of agents or agencies paid increased to 746 in August, from 698 in July.
- The percentage of commission deposits processed during the current month increased to 95 percent, from 89 percent.
- Total producer commission balances have fallen to $216,789, from $344,024.
The exchange is still trying to get the percentage of commissions paid during the correct month to 100 percent, managers say. The exchange has hired more commission unit workers to speed up processing.
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Exchange staff members are also comparing exchange business records with the records of agencies and insurers, to identify and reconcile differences, managers say.
Oregon had trouble getting its enrollment website working this year. The exchange will use HealthCare.gov, a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) exchange enrollment system set up by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to handle enrollment in 2015. HHS exchange plan issuers are supposed to send commission payments directly to the HHS exchange plan agents.
This year, Cover Oregon is handling the commission process for its producers. In early August, exchange managers said a variety of problems were causing commission processing delays.
Elsewhere in the board meeting packet, managers report that:
- As of Tuesday, the exchange QHPs had 67,581 paid enrollees.
- QHP issuers will send the exchange $640,000 in assessment payments this month.
- The exchange staff reduced the number of unprocessed exchange user life-change forms and error correction forms to 532 as of Aug. 30, from 5,449 in June.
The summary of commission payment performance is available.
See also: Oregon may shutter its state exchange
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Allison Bell
Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.
