Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/285855
w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m A p r i l 2 0 14 • I nsIgh t | 29 i n s i g h t o n H e a l t H Insurance B y M a r y B e t h M a t z e k C hris hanson is getting used to change. e owner of hanson Benefits Inc. in Appleton says once she figures out how the Affordable Care Act – and how it's being interpreted by insurance carriers – will affect her clients, something changes. "I feel like everything I know now, I will have to relearn in three months," she says. at's generally how insurance providers, agents and customers feel. Deadlines or rules that were part of the ACA are changed, get murkier or their interpretation varies. take for example the two-year extension announced in early March allowing individuals to keep health plans that don't meet the law's minimum coverage standards. at was supposed to end on Dec. 31, 2013. But then President Obama said, "If you like your plan, you can keep it" and the deadline moved to the end of this year. now, it's out to 2016. And that's just one small part of the complicated law. "For me, the hardest part is making sure our customers are properly informed," says niel Larsen, executive vice president with Maritime Insurance group in sheboygan. "ey hear a snippet on the news or read a headline that has the word 'delay' in it and they think everything is put off or that what's changing won't affect them. ere's a lot of education that needs to go on." For example, Maritime sends out a legislative update via email to customers when big changes occur, such as the delay announced in early March that businesses with between 50 and 100 employees have until 2016 to offer insurance. "We also try to reach individually to customers as changes happen if we know it will affect them," Larsen says. Larsen says employees participate in webinars and weekly calls to go over what the latest changes may mean for customers. "It's definitely an interesting time to be in insurance," he says. hansen admits that how she does business is also in flux. "how I do business has completely changed. I've become more of a boutique insurance consultant and it's about bringing value to my clients," she says. Dustin McClone of McClone Insurance says the ACA led the Menasha-based insurance firm to add staff and resources so more time could be spent on research. "We spend more resources on keeping up with changes and helping clients who are affected by them," he says. "We also Shiing gears Affordable Care Act keeps health insurance brokers on their toes [continued] » "While it made for an extremely busy fourth quarter for our staff and the agents who partner with Network Health, it's always worth the extra effort to help our customers." – P e n n y r a n s o m , c h i e f a d m i n i s t r a t i v e o f f i c e r f o r N e t w o r k H e a l t h