Taking Care of Business NAHU’s Capitol Conference 2012 Introductory Webinar for Attendees January 12, 2011 © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters

Taking Care of BusinessNAHU’s Capitol Conference 2012

Introductory Webinar for AttendeesJanuary 12, 2011

© 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters • www.nahu.org


Meeting Logistics• Headquarters Location:

– Hyatt Regency (Capitol Hill) – 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW– Washington, DC 20001 – 1-202-737-1234

• The room block at the Hyatt Regency and our overflow are both full.

• There is a large city-wide meeting going on simultaneously (March for Life) that are making hotel rooms hard to come by.


Capitol Conference Website

• We have a very exciting meeting agenda planned, and we’ve put a great deal of information online for you to help you get ready ahead of time. To access the special Capitol Conference page for attendees, please click here and enter the following credentials:

• Login: capitolPassword: 2012

http://www.mmsend79.com/link.cfm?r=126862301&sid=17123454&m=1708732&u=NAHU_2&j=8562787&s=http://www.nahu.org/meetings/capitol/2012/Attendees/index.cfm


Meeting Dates• Regular Conference—Monday, January 23-Wednesday,

January 25– Leadership Meeting (Invitation Only for Future Leaders) on

Sunday, January 22– YAHU Charity Walk (Historical Monuments Tour) on Sunday,

January 22 at 4:30 pm (meet in hotel lobby at 4:15 to walk over)• The first meeting begins at 8:00am on Monday, so make

your travel plans accordingly.• If you are there on Saturday night, NAHU members are

gathering at Madam Organ in the Adams Morgan section of the city to hear music and there will be a NAHU drink special.

• We will end the general session on Wednesday afternoon by 12pm, but your delegation will likely have lobbying visits that afternoon. So check with your State’s legislative chair for information on your appointments


Other Capitol Conference Events

• In addition to the regular meetings and Hill visits, there are other important events scheduled.• HUPAC Congressional Club Luncheon (invitation only)—

Monday, January 23 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. • Regional Meetings—Monday, January 23

• 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. - All Regions

– Young Agents Reception—Monday, January 23 at 9:00 p.m. in the Article One Lounge

• HUPAC Congressional Reception, Tuesday, January 24 at 5:30pm

• Top of the Hill at the Reserve Officers Association, One Constitution Ave, NW—across from the Senate Office Buildings

• HUPAC Capitol Club Luncheon (invitation only)—Wednesday, January 25 from 12:00-2:30 p.m.


Meeting LogisticsFree Time• Washington, DC is an exciting city, with tons to see and do.

However, we also have a packed meeting schedule, and you will not want to miss any of our exciting speakers.

• Good times to sight-see include Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.

• Most DC restaurants require advance reservations for large parties.


Cap Con Plus

• If you register for CapConPLUS, you will receive audio recordings of all general sessions and breakouts synced to PowerPoint presentations.

• This year, each breakout session includes so much “400-level” content about nuanced aspects of health reform many people want to attend them all.

• The schedule only allows for enough time for attendees to pick two sessions to attend in person, but with CapConPLUS, you don’t have to miss a thing!

• To upgrade to CapConPlus, please email [email protected] and Ulla will assist you with the upgrade. In order to get the reduced rate of $99, you need to contact Ulla by Friday, January 13. After that, the cost for attendees to receive the recordings will increase to $129.

mailto:[email protected]


Meeting Materials• In past years we gave attendees a big binder of

information to read and take home.• This year we are trying to be more green and cutting

edge.• All information will be provided electronically.• Every attendee will get a flash drive with all information• We also have will everything posted online• Attendees will also be able to download a free Capitol

Conference application, which works on all phones with internet access, that will give you access to agendas, presentation slides, speaker bios, updates, etc.

• There will be FREE wireless for the whole meeting in the sponsorship lounge


Meeting LogisticsAttire• The dress code for the meeting is business professional, with the

exception of the events on Sunday, which will be business casual.• Washington is a conservative city in terms of dress. Most of the

floors in the hotel and on Capitol Hill are marble, and you will be walking a lot between Hill appointments. Bring comfortable shoes!

• Weather is Washington, DC is on the colder side during late January- lower 30s (if we’re lucky!). Bring warm clothes, including a good overcoat, and pack an umbrella!

Pictures• NAHU is looking for great photos of our members at the event. If

you take any good candid shots, please send the to [email protected] and they might appear in HIU or other propotional materials!



Meeting Etiquette• Please be aware that there will be print and possibly television/radio media

in the room during all sessions (except on Monday, which is a closed session).

• Please keep your cell phones off or on vibrate during the entire meeting.• Please try and keep talking/lingering in the hall outside the general session

room down to a minimum. The noise from the hallway/registration area can be very loud and distracting inside the meeting room.

• Please be aware that many of our distinguished guests have very busy schedules and may not have time for picture requests, questions, etc. before or after they speak.

• If there is an opportunity for questions, it will be announced from the podium and read by the announcer.

• Photos are usually limited to members of that individual’s state delegation for time purposes. If there is time for additional photos with a specific individual, we will let you know at the conference.


Capitol Hill Visits• Members and chapters are responsible for making their own appointments

with legislators.

• Capitol Hill appointments should be made in advance and scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons after 1:00pm.

• If you are going to the HUPAC reception, remember event starts at 5:00 p.m.

• Once you have made your hill appointments, please go to http://nahu.capwiz.com/nahu/lrm/feedback.tt?event=37841&mode=appointment and enter in the information for NAHU’s tracking purposes.

• If you need to send a hill office a summary of what issues will be discussed at your meetings, you can download NAHU’s overview of federal issues from the Capitol Conference section of the NAHU web site.

• If you need help making your appointments or would like an NAHU staff lobbyist to attend a meeting with you, please contact Dan Samson at (202) 595-3678 or [email protected].

http://nahu.capwiz.com/nahu/lrm/feedback.tt?event=37841&mode=appointment

http://nahu.capwiz.com/nahu/lrm/feedback.tt?event=37841&mode=appointment


Capitol Hill Visits

• Show up on time.• Try to bring at least one constituent to the meeting. It can be someone who

lives in the district or whose office/business is in the district.• Speak with one voice. We all have our various and differing opinions of the

impending issues at hand. We need to be consistent in our efforts to tell our story in unison.

• Make sure you know the issue you’re talking about better than the legislator or his/her aide. (For example, pending state legislation, status of pending bills, etc.)

• Designate one person to take notes and one to provide follow-up• Use real life stories and anecdotes. Tell stories about claims, lack of

competition, renewal increases, and how you help real people and businesses in their state/district.


Capitol Hill Visits

• We always want to let members and staff know we are here to help, to be an educational resource for them.

• NAHU has positive relationships with key legislators on both sides of the aisle--Democratic AND Republicans. We need to find common points of interest and work with everyone.

• There will be a session meeting on Monday, January 23 at 8:00 a.m. where we will go over in detail how to make your hill visits most effective.

• Our government relations staff will answer member questions about issues in the Town Hall on Monday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

• Every attendee will have access to printed “Pocket card” cheat sheets with our key points for visits. The pocket card materials will also be part of the Cap Con Ap, so you can view them subtlety in meetings from your phone or tablet.


Capitol Hill Visits

• Capitol Hill visit leave behind materials are going to be different this year

• You will have two printed handouts to leave behind – A six-page brochure on Brokers Making a Difference– A one-page leave behind on our key issues

• Detailed issue summaries and additional information hill offices will want are going to be on the flash drive and on-line site organized in a way that will make it really easy for you to email the hill offices with follow-up.

• Hill staff want information electronically. Paper gets thrown away. Email attachments get read, saved and forwarded.

• Sending follow-up materials also give you a chance to establish a communication chain with key staffers.


Taking Care of Health Care Costs • Creating new health coverage access will be a wasted effort if people

are unable to pay for their coverage. • Making coverage affordable for everyone doesn’t just mean providing

generous subsidies to help people pay for coverage. • It also means taking a hard look at the cost of heath care. • We believe policymakers need to:

– Provide incentives for bundled payments and value-based purchasing for providers, employers and insurers.

– Place more emphasis on wellness, including better incentives for group plans and allowing for meaningful wellness programs for public-program beneficiaries and individual coverage.

– Start a meaningful national conversation about how personal behavior choices are negatively impacting not only individual health, but also the physical and economic health of this country.


Taking Care of Health Care Costs

• Lawmakers also need to closely examine how we plan to provide coverage assistance to the neediest of Americans in the future by:

– Allowing subsidies to be provided outside of exchanges. Providing new subsidies to lower-income private health insurance purchasers is laudable, but restricting recipients to only individual insurance coverage purchased through health insurance exchanges unfairly, unnecessarily and inappropriately limits consumer choices.

– Ensuring that any health coverage program established be adequately funded and have long-term financial viability. Creating unsustainable programs means that we will fail to deliver on promises made to our most vulnerable citizens and could very well bankrupt our states.

– Allowing individuals buying their coverage independently to enjoy the same tax advantages as their counterparts in employer-sponsored plans, but not at the expense of the existing employer-coverage income tax exclusion.


Taking Care of Business

• To ensure that employers continue to invest in their employees’ health care needs in the years ahead, NAHU believes that many of the new health reform requirements that are discouraging employer-sponsored coverage should be addressed quickly.

– The employer responsibility requirements relative to providing coverage, including the related fines

– Employer responsibilities concerning health benefit exchanges– Benefit plan and deductible restrictions on small employers– The new health insurance premium tax– New employer notification and reporting requirements – The non-discrimination requirements for all fully insured group plans– A multitude of other compliance requirements, definitions and timeframes that

conflict with time-tested employer benefit practices and other state and federal health care laws


Taking Care of Our Clients• Health insurance consumers today have many questions and

concerns about how new marketplace changes will impact them moving forward.

• Professional health insurance agents and brokers want to support their clients in choosing and making the most of new coverage options by providing assistance, trusted advice and service.

• We need our representatives to ensure that health insurance consumers always will have the ability and option to work with licensed professionals. Lawmakers can do this by supporting:

– Changes to the health reform law’s medical loss ratio requirements so that consumers can continue to have access to professional independent health insurance agents and brokers..

– The creation of health insurance exchanges by both the states and federal government that allow individuals and business owners to utilize traditional agent and broker services. Exchange consumers need agent and broker access both during the annual enrollment process and to handle their service and policy comparison needs on an ongoing basis.


Taking Care of the Future

• Policymakers should make every effort to ensure that the safety net that provides health coverage to the American senior population is solvent, stable and efficient. Not only do millions of American seniors depend on both the Medicare and Medicaid programs, but the performance and stability of these programs also impact health care costs for all other privately insured individuals in this country. That’s why lawmakers should:

– Take the necessary and difficult steps needed to preserve Medicare flexibility for seniors and restore the long-term financial health of the program.

– Refrain from financing deficit reduction measures or other health care reform programs on the backs of our nation’s senior citizens by changing the funding of their private Medicare coverage options.

– Provide new financial incentives to encourage Americans to make the financially responsible decision of purchasing private long-term care insurance.


For More Information or Assistance

NAHU’s Capitol Conference General Informationhttp://www.nahu.org/meetings/capitol/2011/index.cfm (202) 552-5060

Hotel Reservations/Logistical Questions Agenda/Legislative Questions(202) 595-7518 (202) [email protected]@nahu.org

Meeting Registration Hill Visits(202) 595-0798 (202) [email protected] [email protected]

HUPACMedia

(202) 595-3678 (202) [email protected] [email protected]

http://www.nahu.org/meetings/capitol/2011/index.cfm








Dan SamsonGovernment Affairs Coordinator(202) [email protected]

Jessica WaltmanSenior Vice President of Government Affairs(202) [email protected]



Documents

Taking Care of Business NAHU’s Capitol Conference 2012 Introductory Webinar for Attendees January 12, 2011 © 2011, National Association of Health Underwriters