{"id":168,"date":"2010-08-20T14:07:03","date_gmt":"2010-08-20T19:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hnetalk.com\/Broker\/?p=168"},"modified":"2010-08-20T14:07:03","modified_gmt":"2010-08-20T19:07:03","slug":"questions-and-answers-hnes-settlement-with-the-division-of-insurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/2010\/08\/20\/questions-and-answers-hnes-settlement-with-the-division-of-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions and Answers: HNE\u2019s Settlement with the Division of Insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhy did HNE agree to settle with the Division of Insurance (DOI)?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nHNE decided to settle our case to bring certainty to our rate structure. The agreement will end the upheaval experienced by individuals and small businesses over the last few months. We also believe that the settlement will set the scene for a more constructive statewide conversation about health-care costs. We look forward to resuming our work to find meaningful and sustainable ways to address the drivers of health care costs.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhat are the rate increases that have been approved as part of this agreement?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nPremium base rates approved in this settlement are between 5.5% and 14.9% with an effective date of September 1, 2010.\u00a0 Final rates will be based on plan type and effective date of the renewal.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhat does the range mean?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nRate increases will be in the range of 5.5% and 14.9% and will vary based on plan design.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nIs 14.9% the maximum increase?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nRates will still reflect demographic adjustments for 2010.\u00a0 Age band adjustments were made to the 2010 rate model; therefore, there may be some changes that result in rates that are higher than 14.9%.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nHow will groups and brokers be notified of the settlement?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nHNE will provide groups with a notification letter.\u00a0 Brokers will receive a letter with a proposal sheet identifying the group\u2019s current plan(s).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nHow will groups know what the new premiums are?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nGroups will receive the new rates in their October premium bill.\u00a0 The new rates will be reflected beginning with October premium bills.\u00a0 October bills will also include an amount which makes up the difference between the September interim premium bill and the premium agreed to in the settlement.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhen will I get my re-rate for my September quote?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nHNE\u2019s goal is to have all final rates to brokers and groups during the week of August\u00a023, 2010.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWill census shifts affect the rate increase for September?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nBased on DOI agreement, your final rate is based on your census from your date of renewal.\u00a0 The group\u2019s anniversary date will remain the same.\u00a0 If the group requires HNE to re-rate with new census we will do so as needed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nIs the DOI settlement a qualifying event for open enrollment?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nNo, this does not qualify for an open enrollment period.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nIs the rate increase retroactive to the employer group\u2019s original anniversary date?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nNo, the rate increase is effective September 1, 2010<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nCan a group buy-down?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nYes, if requested, a group can buy down.\u00a0 The effective date of their plan will be the 1st<\/sup> day of the following month and their original anniversary date will not change.\u00a0 HNE will not make retroactive plan changes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWill HNE collect the back due premium all at once?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nYes, the September premium differential will be due with the October premium.\u00a0 Rates will change as of September 1, 2010.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWill HNE retro bill for premiums prior to September?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nNo, the agreement states \u201ceffective September 1, 2010\u201d.\u00a0 The September premium differential will be due with the October premium.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhen will HNEDirect be ready for on-line quoting?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nHNE anticipates HNEDirect will be available by the end of August for on-line quoting.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhy was HNE able to lower its premium rates from its original rate filings?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nHNE removed the profit margin from the small group business, meaning we will not make a profit on small group businesses in 2010.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhy are your percentage increases higher than your competitors?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nHNE\u2019s increase is higher than our competitors because, in some cases, our starting base rates were lower than some of our competitors.\u00a0 HNE has always been committed to providing cost effective rates to our groups and the % increase approved by the DOI reflects our lower rates.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Q:<\/td>\nWhat are the primary drivers for health insurance premiums?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A:<\/td>\nHealth care costs are rising for a variety of reasons: an aging and increasingly obese society, new and more expensive technologies, and a propensity to use expensive treatments instead of less expensive alternatives.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: Why did HNE agree to settle with the Division of Insurance (DOI)? A: HNE decided to settle our case to bring certainty to our rate structure. The agreement will end the upheaval experienced by individuals and small businesses over the last few months. We also believe that the settlement will set the scene for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZZOS-2I","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hnetalk.com\/broker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}