Monday, July 18, 2016

News for Federally-facilitated Marketplace Agents and Brokers - July 2016 Edition


An electronic source of information for Federally-facilitated Marketplace (FFM) Agents and Brokers

 

In This Issue:

  • Resources for Agents and Brokers

o    The Marketplace Learning Management System (MLMS) Closed on July 15, 2016

o    Upcoming Webinars

o    “Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Data Recheck of Failure to File and Reconcile 2014 Advanced Payments of the Premium Tax Credit (APTC) Population” Webinar Slides Now Available

o    “Agent and Broker Guide to the Immigration Section of the Online Marketplace Application” Resource Now Available

  • Small Business Health Operations Program (SHOP) Marketplace Corner

o    Connect with the SHOP Marketplace on LinkedIn

o    There is No Time Like the Present – Enroll Consumers in SHOP Marketplace Coverage Today

  • Spotlight on Eligibility and Enrollment

o    Reducing the Impact of Data Matching Issues

  • Did You Know? The Plan Year 2016 Agent and Broker FFM Registration Completion List Has a New Look!
  • Follow Us on Twitter
  • Contact Us

 Resources for Agents and Brokers 


The Marketplace Learning Management System (MLMS) Closed on July 15, 2016 

Plan year 2016 FFM registration and training for agents and brokers closed on the MLMS on July 15 at 11:59 AM Eastern Time (ET) as we prepare to launch the registration and training for plan year 2017. Information on the FFM registration and training for plan year 2017 is coming soon. 

As of July 15 at 12:00 PM ET the 2016 FFM registration and training curriculum completion certificates for agents and brokers are no longer available on the MLMS. The completion of a plan year 2016 training curriculum; or signing the plan year 2016 FFM Agreements, does not count towards plan year 2017 FFM registration for agents and brokers.

Upcoming Webinars 

Plan Year 2017 FFM Registration and Training Webinars: CMS will host two webinars on a recurring basis during the next three months to help you complete plan year 2017 registration and training. While you are welcome to participate in either of these webinar sessions, you may prefer to attend the webinar designed to provide the level of information you need to know. Both webinars will highlight updates to FFM policies and processes since plan year 2016 and will include a web-chat question and answer session immediately following the presentation.  

·         “Plan Year 2017 FFM Registration and Refresher Training for Agents and Brokers Returning to the FFMs.” This webinar will provide an abbreviated review of the registration steps, and describe the new, condensed Refresher Training option available to you if you completed registration in plan year 2016. Webinar dates are:

o    July 19, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET

o    July 28, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM ET

o    August 3, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET

o    August 10, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET  

·         “Plan Year 2017 FFM Registration and Training for Agents and Brokers New to the FFMs.” This webinar will provide a detailed discussion of registration steps and training requirements to assure you have the information you need to complete all the registration steps, including some steps that returning agents and brokers need not perform. Webinar dates are:

o    July 20, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET

o    July 27, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ET

o    August 4, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM ET 

Registration is now open for all webinars at www.REGTAP.info and agents and brokers are only allowed to register for one session. If you have questions on the webinar registration process, visit the "Agent and Broker Webinars” section of the Agents and Brokers Resources webpage for more information. 

“Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Data Recheck of Failure to File and Reconcile 2014 Advanced Payments of the Premium Tax Credit (APTC) Population” Webinar Slides Now Available 

CMS hosted the “IRS Data Recheck of Failure to File and Reconcile 2014 APTC Population” webinar on June 2. This webinar provided an overview of the rules for consumers who need to reconcile the APTC they received during plan year 2014. Consumers whom the FFMs and IRS determine have failed to complete reconciliation for 2014 could lose their current plan year APTC as soon as October 2016, and could be reenrolled in coverage for plan year 2017 without APTC. For more information, you can review the slides from this webinar here.  

“Agent and Broker Guide to the Immigration Section of the Online Marketplace Application” Now Available  

This guide will help you assist consumers with completing the citizenship and immigration questions of the online Marketplace application. It provides step-by-step instructions and screenshots that illustrate how to: verify identity and citizenship or immigration status; submit supporting documentation, if requested; complete other steps necessary for enrollment in a QHP through the Marketplace; and determine or assess potential eligibility for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The guide also contains a list of frequently asked questions on issues that commonly arise when helping non-citizen consumers. For more information, you can review the document here.  

Small Business Health Operations Program (SHOP) Marketplace Corner

             Connect with the SHOP Marketplace on LinkedIn 

Stay up to date on the latest SHOP Marketplace news, updates, and tools by following the SHOP Marketplace on LinkedIn.  

There is No Time Like the Present – Enroll Consumers in SHOP Marketplace Coverage Today 

Small employers with one to 50 employees can apply and enroll in health insurance through the SHOP Marketplace at any time. There is no limited enrollment period. Small employers can begin to offer coverage in any month of the year. Applications that are submitted before the 15th of the month can go into effect as soon as the first day of the following month. Applications submitted after the 15th of the month can go into effect as soon as the first day of the second following month.  

HealthCare.gov also offers a variety of tools to help you and consumers get started:

·         See Plans and Prices: Help consumers browse SHOP Marketplace health and dental plans available in their areas before they enroll.

·         Full-time Equivalent (FTE) Calculator: Help consumers determine if they are eligible for SHOP Marketplace coverage by counting their total number of FTE employees.

·         Tax Credit Estimator: Help consumers determine whether they may be eligible for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit, available exclusively through the SHOP Marketplace, and estimate how much the tax credit may be worth to employers.

·         Minimum Participation Rate (MPR) Calculator: Help consumers predict whether they meet the MPR in their state to participate in the SHOP Marketplace 

Need assistance? The SHOP Call Center is available to assist agents, brokers, employers, and employees with an offer of SHOP Marketplace coverage, Monday – Friday 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM ET at 1-800-706-7893 (TTY: 711).  

Spotlight on Eligibility and Enrollment  

Reducing the Impact of Data Matching Issues

To ensure consumers are eligible for Marketplace coverage and financial assistance, CMS verifies eligibility for most consumers through electronic trusted data sources. However, if consumers’ data cannot be matched electronically, CMS generates a data matching issue to request additional information from them. Consumers who do not provide the necessary information will have their coverage or financial assistance ended or modified. Unfortunately, eligible consumers sometimes lose coverage or financial assistance through the Marketplace because they are unable to locate documents or navigate the data matching process.

You can learn more about some of the improvements CMS has made to make sure consumers who are eligible for and need coverage throughout the year are able to stay covered from the Keeping Consumers Covered post by Kevin Counihan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) and Health Insurance Marketplace Director. 

Did You Know? 

The Agent Broker FFM Registration Completion List has a new look, but can still be accessed via the Agent and Broker FFM Registration Status Page. The Registration Completion List contains National Producer Numbers (NPNs) for agents, brokers, and web-brokers who have completed FFM registration. In this new format, a separate entry will appear for each plan year in which an agent, broker, or web-broker has completed registration. CMS anticipates refreshing the FFM Registration Completion List every Friday by 4:00 PM ET.  

You can check your registration status by entering your NPN in the search functionality on the top right of the dataset (see the magnifying glass icon). To get a better idea of the new look and feel of the Registration Completion List, click here. You can also check out the FFM Registration Completion List Data Dictionary on the Agent Broker FFM Registration Status Page. The Data Dictionary is a list of the data fields and descriptions provided in the Registration Completion List spreadsheet. 

Follow Us on Twitter 

You can find important information and updates by following the CMS and HealthCare.gov Twitter handles (@CMSGov and @HealthCareGov) or by searching for the hashtags #ABFFM or #ABFFSHOP on Twitter.  

Contact Us 

For questions pertaining to the FFM agents and brokers program, including FFM registration requirements, or to subscribe to this newsletter, please contact the FFM Producer and Assister Help Desk via email at FFMProducer-AssisterHelpDesk@cms.hhs.gov.  

You may also contact the Agent and Broker Call Center by calling 1-855-CMS-1515 (855-267-1515) and selecting option “1.” Call Center Representatives are available Monday through Saturday from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM ET.  

This call center does not have access to consumer information and is not able to handle specific questions or issues with a consumer’s application. Please continue to call the Marketplace Call Center at 1-800-318-2596 for assistance related to enrolling consumers in coverage through the Individual Marketplaces. For assistance related to coverage through the SHOP Marketplace, contact the SHOP Call Center at 1-800-706-7893.

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