Softheon is hoping a new web broker access option will speed up the signup process.

From Thinkadvisor.com – New HealthCare.gov Flexibility Could Ease 2018 Pain: Exec

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency in charge of HealthCare.gov, intends to move the end date of the open enrollment period to Dec. 15, from Jan. 31 in the past few years. Given how short the open enrollment period will be, “brokers are going to have to make sure they’re super efficient,” Baker said. “The window is going to be so tight.” (emphasis added).

In Colorado this is nothing short of hilarious. Brokers are going to have to make sure they are super efficient? And how the **** are they (we) going to do that? We have our on exchange and it sorta works, but anyone who wants a tax credit has to enroll in Medicaid through Colorado PEAK under the auspices of the Dept Of Health Care Policy and Finance (HCPF). That is a complex and error prone process. It could be somewhat curtailed if Medicaid/PEAK asked very simple questions when starting the application. A few examples that come to mind are:

• Do you have access to coverage through a spouse, regardless of the cost to you?
• Have you voluntarily terminated coverage, including COBRA recently? If so, you don’t have a qualifying event.
• Has it been more than 60 days from your qualifying event (such as move to state, loss of coverage, etc)? If so you’re qualifying event has terminated.
• Is your current income above the Medicaid threshold?
• Is your current income above the Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) threshold?

Unfortunately, the fly in the ointment is for adults with middle class incomes that have children. Their children will most likely qualify for CHP+, which means they have to fill out the complete Medicaid application.

So where does that leave brokers? They need to dispense with assisting clients with the Medicaid application. One, it’s a liability risk. Secondly it’s extremely time consuming. And if there are issues, it’s now an order of magnitude more time consuming. The solution, brokers should stop assisting clients (especially new clients) with PEAK/Medicaid applications. This should be pushed down to the organizations that are (supposedly) best qualified to handle this, Connect for Health, the online PEAK application or the clients local Dept of Health and Human Services.

I will be notifying my existing clients that I will assist with simple changes such as reporting a change in income. Anything complex, can you say divorce or applying with a VISA, will have to go through Connect for Health or HHS. For new clients, if they need a new determination, they must apply on-line on their own, call Connect for Health or visit their local Dept HHS office.