Agent associations say new CMS policy is hindering enrollments

Agent associations are speaking out against a new federal policy that they say is hindering agents from enrolling people in coverage on the federal health insurance marketplace.

On Aug. 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services implemented a policy requiring agents and brokers to reconnect their online federally-facilitated marketplace account credentials after just 30 minutes of inactivity.

Agent groups say that as a result of this policy, their members are experiencing a number of problems in enrolling people in coverage online.

The National Association of Benefit and Insurance Professionals, in a letter to CMS, said its members have a number of problems, including:

• Applications are timing out mid-enrollment, forcing brokers to restart from the beginning and, in some cases, causing lost enrollments.
• Brokers are required to re-enter CMS Enterprise Portal credentials multiple times per day, creating excessive friction. This challenge will be most disruptive during peak open enrollment traffic.
• Brokers report that clients with longer consultations cannot complete an application within the 30-minute window, which will be especially problematic during open enrollment when consumers often need additional explanations and plan comparisons.
• HealthSherpa and other enhanced direct enrollment partners report that agents are being incorrectly marked as inactive by CMS, despite actively working within their platforms. This is because many application programming interface calls, such as those for quoting and system interactions related to agency management, are not counted as activity. Only actions such as fetching consumer accounts or applications are logged, triggering unnecessary reconnection prompts.

NABIP said this added friction diminishes broker productivity and threatens consumer access to timely enrollment. “In the words of one of our members: ‘Every extra friction point = lowering productivity = slowing down enrollments. Essentially, this is how we kill ACA without passing any laws.’

‘It’s one more thing’ to hinder brokers

Health Agents for America also is speaking out to CMS against the new policy, with president and CEO Ronnell Nolan telling InsuranceNewsNet it puts another burden on agents and brokers.

“Agents are already struggling because it times you out of the system,” she said. “You can be in the middle of an application that takes more than 30 minutes, it's going to time you out, you're going to have to sign back in.

“It seems like every other day there’s a new rule put in front of us that’s going to hinder our work and possibly put many agents out of business. This is one more thing.”

Could harm consumers

National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors president Doug Massey, in a letter to CMS, said the new policy “could unintentionally harm consumer access to health insurance coverage and impede the ability of licensed insurance professionals to effectively serve their clients.”

NAIFA strongly supports efforts to implement effective cybersecurity safeguards in the exchange marketplace, Massey said. However, the recent changes have created several unintended barriers impacting consumers and the agents that serve them.

Massey noted:

• Complex applications require more time: Gathering documentation (tax returns, pay stubs, immigration documents) and completing family applications often takes longer than 30 minutes.
• Consultation needs: Licensed agents provide essential plan comparison, subsidy calculations, and education that cannot and should not be rushed.
• Vulnerable populations could suffer most: Low-income families, non-English speakers, elderly consumers, and individuals with disabilities may require additional time and support, making them particularly vulnerable to interruptions during the application process.

NAIFA urged CMS to:

• Extend the inactivity window to at least one hour to better reflect the complexity of the application process.
• Implement flexible timeout structures based on activity type.
• Focus security measures on protecting consumer data without creating broad enrollment barriers.
• Engage industry stakeholders in developing solutions that maintain both security and accessibility.

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].