Full Description

It is critical to know how the newly enacted health care reform legislation will affect your bottom line and your ability to attract and retain valuable employees. Firms simply can’t purchase health insurance and other employee benefits using the old fashion way of just getting premium quotes from brokers anymore if they are to survive the health care reform years ahead of us.

The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which made changes to House of Representative’s November 2009 Affordable Care for America Act and the Senate’s December 2009 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will empower the Department of Health and Human Services to set up the rules requiring U.S. citizens and legal residents, regardless of their health status, to have health insurance through their employers or on their own, including coverage from newly established state-based “exchange” programs. Insurers, employers, and self-insured plan sponsors will also be required to follow certain guidelines regarding coverage for pre-existing conditions, dependent eligibility, benefit waiting periods, plan designs, and new reporting activities.  Some aspects of the new law will become effective as soon as six months following enactment and others delayed until as late as 2018.

While coverage for uninsured Americans is an important objective, other social elements of the program need to be understood. At our upcoming webinar, two seasoned insurance experts, will explain the likely impact these health care reform measures will have on health insurance reform, and on what your firm should do now to plan for inevitable cost increases.

The right vendor choice, the right funding choice, the right contribution model, and the right protection level will all depend on customization.  The simple world of premium rates will now be the complex world of assessments, fines, benefit taxes, premium rebates, and more. Companies and their owners need to know the system and how to use it wisely. You will learn how customization will be an important tool to contain benefit costs and deliver valued benefits to your employees.

We’ll also cover:

• Timelines for insurers, employers & individuals - Will you be prepared?
• Mandates for insurers, employers & individuals - Do you know what to expect? 
• Funding for all of this – How will you and your employees pay for this? How will insurers and medical providers pay for this?
• New programs including state exchange plans, multi-state option plans, high-risk pool plans, co-op plans – Will these help you or hurt you? 
• The effect on health insurance costs (hint: likely not gravitational) – How will you prepare for this and when can you start?
  

Presenter Info

Abe Gutfreund
Senior Vice President
Singer Nelson Charlmers

Abe has been in the health insurance arena since 1970 including 20 years as a member of Mutual of New York’s senior actuarial management team, the head of group underwriting, and a senior sales executive. Abe has been teaching companies how to buy health insurance since he started with Singer Nelson Charlmers in 1990.

As the lead designer of The HealthPlan Optimizer®, he was instrumental in providing unique solutions and tremendous health insurance savings to the firm’s clients. He frequently speaks at business functions as the keynote presenter on Purchasing Health Insurance Today. Abe has also been recognized by both his peers and insurance company executives as one of the most knowledgeable group disability insurance professionals.
 
Abe is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he majored in mathematics with a concentration in actuarial studies.
 
David J. Singer, CLU, CIC
Singer Nelson Charlmers

David Singer has been with Singer Nelson Charlmers since 1987.  He spends most of his time counseling professional firms, especially architects and engineers, on all of their insurance and benefits needs.

David has been a frequent guest lecturer at CPA and design firms on “Risk Management Issues,” “Optimizing Your Health Insurance Program,” “What You Should Know About Business Insurance,” “Long-Term Care Issues,” and “Professional Liability Insurance.” David also regularly speaks with inner city high school students on finding and deploying their unique abilities.

David spent the first part of his career on a fast-track training program that included time spent at some of the major insurance agencies in the country, as well as several insurance companies. Prior to his insurance career, David was a computer consultant for Arthur Andersen & Company and Oppenheim, Appel, Dixon & Company.  David is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany. He was a business major and was named the Outstanding Graduating Senior in Management Science, his concentration. He was also elected to the National Honor Societies Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma.