Veteran health insurance broker stays busy

High Point Enterprise (NC)

Sept. 28--HIGH POINT -- For all its technical complexity, health insurance often can be distilled into a fundamental human story, as Don Hild can attest.

In 25 years as an independent health insurance broker, he's seen all kinds of scenarios: The single mother who earns $13,000 a year working at a fast-food restaurant, yet doesn't qualify for insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. The small business owner who had to pay back thousands of dollars of subsidies because he inadvertently misreported his income when enrolling for coverage.

"We spend a lot of time fixing people's mistakes," said Hild, sales director for Blue Moon Benefits Group in High Point, which helps individuals obtain health insurance. "People don't realize we're here. They don't know where to turn."

The work of Hild and others in his office has taken on added significance in the era of the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare, which requires most people to have health insurance or pay a fine.

The law survived another repeal effort in the U.S. Senate earlier this week, but remains highly politicized. It's part of an ever-changing health-care landscape where brokers like Hild try to cut through the confusion for individuals who buy their coverage.

Hild's office has enrolled about 2,000 people on the federal health-care exchange, helping them find a plan and determine if they're eligible for subsidies.

"There are so many layers, so many rules," Hild said. "It's not reasonable for the average person to understand all those layers."

He said he believes the theoretical goals of the ACA were great, but the delivery of Obamacare has been highly flawed.

Most of its major objectives, such as containing health-care costs, have not been met, he said.

"There are more people covered, but at tremendous cost," he said. "It's a shame, because with some tweaks, it could be really good."

The N.C. General Assembly did not expand Medicaid as part of the ACA, which not only has left several hundred thousand people without coverage they could otherwise obtain, but it has driven up premiums for those with insurance, Hild said.

"The biggest problem with not expanding Medicaid is that it put a tremendous load on the insurance companies to cover folks who were a high-maintenance, high-claim block of business," he said. "I don't work for any insurance company -- I'm independent. But it does bother me that what we've done is said to the insurance companies, 'You have to do this and we're going to tie your hands.'"

Hild founded Deep River Insurance Solutions in High Point in the early 1990s and operated the firm until merging it with Clemmons-based Blue Moon Benefits Group a few years ago. He decided early in his career to specialize in health insurance.

"We focus mostly on individuals, especially Medicare," Hild said.

While Medicare has been around for more than 50 years, the federal health insurance program for seniors can be as confusing for consumers as the ACA, he said.

"The biggest obstacle in Medicare is when you have people with different health needs, different finances -- a lot of factors go into picking the right plan," Hild said. "If you have a wife sitting here with her husband, in many cases, they should go with different plans, because they're all based on individual needs. With Medicare, you can really choose the wrong program."

pkimbrough@hpenews.com -- 336-888-3531

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