During the six weeks of Open Enrollment, our team is solely focused on supporting ACA enrollments. Outside of the season, we focus on improving our platform.
If you haven’t logged into your HealthSherpa Agent account since December 2019, please take some time before November 1st to update your licensed states and carrier appointments, and also reset your CMS password to make sure you don’t unexpectedly get booted out of your account. To make use of many of the account improvements below, you will also need to have EDE enabled in your account.
Here’s a roundup of what’s new:
Through an Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Account (ICHRA), employers can give tax-free dollars to eligible employees who then choose their own individual health plan through the Marketplace.
We’ve added a question about Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA) in the ‘Additional questions > Coverage’ section of our application, so you can enroll ICHRA clients directly from your HealthSherpa account.
You can find more information about ICHRA enrollments here, and please enter your email below if you would want to get updates on ICHRA capabilities from us.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) only clears Enhanced Direct Enrollment (EDE) websites for catastrophic plan enrollments when they’ve passed CMS’s most rigorous audit.
HealthSherpa has the fullest integration possible with the federal Marketplace (i.e. HealthCare.gov), so catastrophic plan enrollments are possible and available to ACA agents.
Catastrophic plans will automatically be visible in the quoter for clients under 30. For older applicants, you can automatically generate a health coverage exemption for eligible individuals and then choose ‘Change plan’ from the review page to see catastrophic options.
To learn more about these plans and how to enroll your clients on HealthSHerpa, click here to read our article on Catastrophic plan basics.
As an ACA agent, you can now see all the notices the Marketplace sends to your client from their profile in your HealthSherpa account.
This feature will be automatically visible if you have turned on EDE in your account. You can find directions for turning on EDE here, and you can learn more about Marketplace notices here.
From the Client Profile, you can now check whether you are the Agent of Record (AOR). If you have EDE enabled, you will be able to retrieve and see the most up to date AOR information for your clients in the ‘Coverage’ section of their profile.
Click here for more instructions on viewing the AOR for your clients.
Agents can now cancel plans for their clients directly from HealthSherpa if their account is EDE enabled.
In the Client Profile, a ‘Cancel Plan’ button will be in the bottom right of the plan card.
To improve account security, agents now have the option to set up two factor authentication (2FA) for their HealthSherpa accounts.
This added layer of protection will ask an agent for a 6-digit code from their cell phone after entering their username and password.
Agents can set up 2FA in the ‘Settings’ tab of their account. Click here for more information on 2FA and how to set it up.
This new feature lets Agency Admins set principal NPNs that can be used by their immediate downline for enrollments. All downline agents must have EDE enabled in order to use the set override NPNs.
At the end of every application, downline agents will see a dropdown where they can choose the NPN to use. Click here for more information on setting up NPN overrides and FAQ.
If you already have a HealthSherpa account, log in here to see the new changes.
New to HealthSherpa? Don’t worry — it’s easy to get started with a free HealthSherpa for Agents account. HealthSherpa is an approved direct enrollment pathway for healthcare.gov, and we are able to help you enroll your clients directly on our site with Enhanced Direct Enrollment (EDE). Through a HealthSherpa account, you can enroll, track, and service your ACA clients year-round. Visit our HealthSherpa for Agents page today to learn more and sign up for an account.