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Webinar to Help P&C Agents Benefit from Health Insurance Boom Under Reform Law

For independent insurance agents, upcoming healthcare reform could be an opportunity to gain a bigger share of the health insurance and benefits market, provided they can properly advise their customers about their options, according to experts.

Insurance Journal is partnering with Channel Harvest to offer a Webinar on July 21 to help independent agents understand the new healthcare rules and seize the business opportunities presented by the landmark health insurance law. The Webinar, How to Take Advantage of the Health Insurance Boom, will bring together experts who know first-hand about the independent agency system with specialists in the health insurance market.

Topics to be addressed include:

• The new role of independent agents in the health insurance purchasing chain.
• How to use the new health insurance reform as a strategic opportunity to grow business with commercial and personal lines customers.
• What agents and brokers can learn from the healthcare system experiences in Massachusetts and Utah.
• Likely changes in broker compensation and agency value, including how Medical Loss Ratio requirements may affect agency revenues.

Millions of uninsured Americans – many of them young and healthy – could be required to purchase health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act recently signed into law. Many more will need to shop for coverage, as their employers discontinue their company insurance benefits to save costs. These consumers face complicated insurance choices, and many of them will turn to independent agents to help them make sense of it all.

“We kept hearing from agents who could see the legislation happening, and they wanted to know how to position themselves to earn their share of this new business,” said Peter van Aartrijk, CEO of brand consulting firm Aartrijk and Channel Harvest partner. “They showed us a real need to offer information tailored to independent agents who mainly focus on P&C business. The cross-sell opportunities are tremendous, but many principals and agents need more information to take advantage of the changes.”

Confirmed speakers for the live, 90-minute July 21 Webinar include:

• Joel Wood, of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, will provide a lobbyist’s insider view of what to expect from additional legislation and the all-important implementing regulations that will shape the marketplace.
• Wayne Walkotten of consultant Marsh Berry & Co. will address the outlook for revenue and strategic changes facing the property/casualty agent-broker world.
• Paul Rooney of EBS Capstone, a Newton, Mass.-based full-service brokerage firm, will relay the real-life effects and lessons learned from the Massachusetts health insurance system, after which the federal “exchange” approach was modeled.
• Andrew Simpson, vice president of content for Insurance Journal, will moderate the session.

This Webinar will be held on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 from 3:00 – 4:30 Eastern Standard Time. Participants can register for $159 per location, with as many people listening as desired. Participants can also submit questions either over the phone or online during the Webinar. For more information about registering, visit www.channelharvest.com.

Channel Harvest is a partnership between Aartrijk and Campbell Communications dedicated to informing stakeholders in the insurance marketplace, particularly with respect to independent agents and brokers.