BIP Summer 2024

41% of small businesses

Affecting change from the inside For years, Joshua Brooker has been meeting with The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO), which oversees the HealthCare.gov marketplaces, to discuss the role of agents and brokers on the platform and advocate for security enhancements in particular. Now a Market Research Data Analyst at NABIP, Brooker put his long-term relationship with CMS to quick use when news broke this spring about privacy concerns within the HealthCare.gov marketplaces enrollment system due to unauthorized plan switching [see ‘CMS addresses unauthorized Marketplace activity,’ p.10 for more on the CMS response]. Within a couple of hours of the release of an article by NPR, CMS reached out to Brooker directly to confirm the feasibility of Social Security Number access. “Throughout that day and into the next, I was at the forefront of ensuring the security updates published by CMS were verified. This wasn’t just about addressing a vulnerability but about demonstrating the utmost responsibility that comes with access to sensitive information. As a licensed broker, this is part of our role, but the ethical handling and swift action in the face of vulnerabilities truly define us,” Brooker says. He adds that NABIP’s relationship with CMS is part of an ongoing omnichannel approach to working directly with regulators, policymakers, and legislators. That way, when one avenue is slow — such as Congress during an election year — NABIP can continue its advocacy efforts within other channels. “We’re directly engaging with CMS around the individual market. We’re talking to the Department of Labor for feedback on ERISA issues. We’re providing information to sculpt where brokers’ livelihoods will be for years to come,” Brooker says.

experienced a cyber attack in 2023. Source: Hiscox

we want to do what we can to prevent that. This type of training is very expensive if you have to pay a consulting firm. That’s why being a NABIP member is so valuable — you can benefit from a program you might not normally know about at no cost.” Cally Ideus, owner of the Ideus Agency in Filley, Nebraska, says the program is ideal because the academy will “hold your hand through it, as long as you are willing to put in the work,” she says. “There are not too many organizations out there that will do that. It strategically aligns

with our philosophical vision for supporting our members and their customers.” While businesses in the healthcare space have been in the spotlight for cyber breaches and need to double down on protective actions, there is also a client opportunity. “I think NABIP members would be remiss not to offer this program to their customers — to use it as a reason to reach out and say, ‘my professional organization is giving us an opportunity to help my clients,” Walker says. “It creates retention and loyalty in their own book of business.”

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