Agents and Brokers Generated 44% of 2019 HealthCare.gov Signups

HealthCare.gov is supposed to be a web-based supermarket for a financial services product that sells itself — heavily subsidized private health insurance.

In reality, agents and brokers accounted for about 44% of the people who got covered through HealthCare.gov this year, according to a slidedeck prepared by the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) and obtained by Health Agents for America (HAFA).

CCIIO is the arm of the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services that runs the commercial health insurance-related programs created by the Affordable Care Act, including HealthCare.gov. HealthCare.gov runs ACA exchange plan programs for states that are unwilling or unwilling to run their own exchange programs.

HAFA is a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based group that focuses on serving agents who are still doing their best to be active in the individual major medical insurance market.

The individual major medical open enrollment period for 2020 coverage is set to start tomorrow in most of the country and run until Dec. 15.

One question has been: Given all of the startup problems HealthCare.gov had in 2014 and 2015, and the hostility of the administration of President Donald Trump to the ACA, have agents really been selling a noticeable amount of individual major medical insurance?

The CCIIO slidedeck shows that producers have been helping many people below Medicare eligibility age get covered.

Producers were responsible for 44% of HealthCare.gov's 8.4 million in enrollments for this year, up from 42% of 8.7 million in enrollments for 2018 coverage, and up from 40% of 9.2 million enrollments for 2017 coverage.

HealthCare.gov handled most enrollments for 2017 coverage by early 2017, before the Trump administration had much effect on HealthCare.gov administration. That means that, when Barack Obama was the president, agents and brokers were already accounting for a large share of HealthCare.gov enrollments.

In five states, agents and brokers helped with more than half of HealthCare.gov enrollments.

HealthCare.gov operates a "Circles of Champions" program that recognizes agents and brokers that meet specific enrollment targets. HealthCare.gov has about 48,000 registered producers this year, and half of those enroll enough people to fit in a Circle of Champions category.

About 17,000 producers qualify for "standard category." Those producers are averaging about 15 HealthCare.gov enrollments per year. The 6,414 producers in the middle, "elite" category are averaging about 350 enrollments per year, and the 885 producers in the top, "elite plus" category are averaging about 1,100 enrollments per year.