PIA National President Lee Testifies Before NAIC on Agents and ACA

PIA National President John G. Lee testified in Washington, D.C. on December 18 before the NAIC’s Market Regulation & Consumer Affairs (D) Committee. Lee commented on the experiences of agents and brokers with the enrollment process under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“Initially, my experience with signing up clients in the marketplace was frustrating and time consuming,” said Lee. “The system was constantly freezing up or it would be very slow. At times it would kick you out and tell you to log back in, in 30 minutes. This was very frustrating for the client as well as agent and they could spend hours try to complete an application and sign up for a plan.”

“Since December 1st, however I have found it to be a little easier and less time consuming, but still, improvements are needed,” Lee said. “However, agents in other states continue to experience problems. We have noticed that, in states with their own exchanges, there seems to be fewer problems. Since insurance is state-based, it stands to reason that customers are better served by systems designed specifically for an individual state, as opposed to being “piggy-backed” onto a one-size-fits-all national website.”

PIA of North Dakota Executive Vice President Steve Becher testified on crop insurance and the Farm Bill during a meeting of the NAIC’s Crop Insurance Working Group on Sunday, December 15.