March 13, 2025 Special Feature

HAFA looks to ‘take our industry back’ in 2025

By Susan Rupe

This is the year the health insurance agents “take our industry back for good,” the president and CEO of Health Agents for America told InsuranceNewsNet.

“That is the goal. That is the vision. That's where we're going,” Ronnell Nolan said of her association’s plans for the coming year.

Nolan said she recently traveled to Washington to meet with Peter Nelson, newly appointed leader of the Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

“He understands agents and brokers, and he believes in agents and brokers,” she said. “I've made a list of some of the bad things that happened to us last year, some of the rules and regulations, some of the things that caused good agents to lose their business.”

HAFA speaks out

In 2024, HAFA was outspoken over issues such as CMS suspension of health insurance agents who tried to enroll clients in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, only to find out they were kicked out of the CMS online enrollment system and suspended from selling coverage over algorithms that targeted agents. HAFA also spoke out against carriers announcing they will not pay agent commissions on certain Medicare Advantage plans and Part D prescription drug plans.

“We’ve made a list of what we want to change, what we want to do,” Nolan said. “For example, we want to see short-term medical coverage return to the marketplace, so clients have a choice.”

Nolan said HAFA’s leaders and members believe it is important to tell Washington what agents do for their clients.

”They need to know who agents and brokers are, that we're good folks, that we're trying to do good things, that we deserve to get paid, that Medicare insurance companies shouldn't be allowed to take our commissions away after rates have been filed.”

Nolan contends that despite CMS’s efforts to crack down on rogue agents who illegally enroll people in coverage without their consent, “fraud is still happening.”

“People are still getting their plans changed by rogue agents. It’s not fixed and we need to work together, we need to find an answer before the next open enrollment.”

HAFA is in the middle of conducting a member survey on their perspectives on expanded tax subsidies that enable people to buy ACA coverage. Those expanded tax subsidies are due to sunset on Dec. 31.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that permanently extending these subsidies would increase the federal deficit by about $335 billion over the 2025–2034 period.

“The expanded subsidies will affect how many people our members can enroll,” Nolan said. “I had one member tell me, ‘For my business, I wish the subsidies were expanded. But because of increasing the deficit, I don’t think they should be expanded.’ I think people have mixed feelings about it.”

The Trump administration has started out by attempting to dismantle much of the status quo in Washington with an aggressive agenda. But Nolan said she doesn’t expect health care to play prominently in that agenda – at least for now.

“From the conversations I’ve had on the Hill, it seems there are three major things they are worried about and health care isn’t one of them. So I don’t see a lot of things happening there. We’re hoping that some of the CMS rules and regulations are rolled back. But as far as anything substantial – I don’t see it happening.”

Nolan said one health care-related change she sees in the new administration is an increasing emphasis on the role of the agent.

“This is going to be a new year. We have new CMS leadership and a new administration. I’m telling my members not to give up. Stay strong, and I promise things will change.”

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].