Anthem SOCA BP 2019 Summary Annual Reports are Available

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The 2019 Summary Annual Reports (SARs) for participating employers in the Anthem SOCA BP are available for download in the group’s Manage Documents folder.

The Summary Annual Report is a summary of the group’s plan information for the plan year for employers enrolled in the Anthem SOCA BP between May 1, 2018, and April 30, 2019. If a group was not enrolled in the plan during this time, they will not receive a report. Additionally, churches and government entities enrolled in the Anthem SOCA BP will also not receive a report, as they are not subject to ERISA and exempt from SARs reporting.

To access the SARs report, the group’s 8-digit Anthem group number is required. For example, the 8-digit group number should be entered as: 00123456 when prompted.

The SARs reports are for informational purposes only, there is no action required by the broker or group.

Contact your Cornerstone representative with any questions.

Anthem MEWA Groups Will Receive Premium-Equivalent Credits

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As a response to the challenges presented by COVID-19, Anthem will provide premium-equivalent credits the MEWA benefit plan sponsor groups based on April 2020 medical invoices. If groups also have dental Fully Insured coverage with Anthem, they will receive a premium credit on that as well.

The groups will either see the credit on their August 2020 invoice (issued in July 2020) or receive a check for:

  • 10% of the April premium-equivalent for medical plans
  • 50% of the April premium bill for dental plans (if applicable)

Anthem is working to avoid negative impact to broker commissions.

MEWA sponsors issuing the credits include:

  • Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance (SOCA) Benefit Plan
  • Missouri Chamber Benefit Plan
  • Georgia Chamber SMART Plans and Georgia FARM Plans
  • ChamberAdvantage (Kentucky)
  • ChamberCare Health Alliance (Indiana)

WEBINAR: Learn About Anthem’s SmartShopper Cost of Care Tool

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Anthem is expanding its offering of SmartShopper to all Ohio fully insured groups and will be offering to ASO clients starting July 1, 2020.

SmartShopper is a cost of care tool your clients can share with their employees to support their health and economic security. SmartShopper empowers members to save money and earn a reward by giving them full transparency into alternative, high-value, low-cost facilities for a number of established services.

You may have received an email related to SmartShopper webinars in May, which we unfortunately had to reschedule. The good news is that we have two upcoming webinars to review how SmartShopper works and how you can promote and sell the product. We will list the care services included, the member incentives and explain where and how members can self-serve.

Register for one of the two webinars below to learn more on how to leverage this great product.

Tuesday, June, 16th 10:00-11:00am ET

Thursday, June, 18th 12:00-1:00pm ET

Upon registering, you will receive an email with information about logging in to the webinar online or listening by phone.

Contact your Cornerstone representative with any questions.

SOCA Benefit Plan and MEWA.io Walkthrough Video

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You may have recently received a series of messages from MEWA.io, a digital MEWA management system, highlighting Anthem’s SOCA BP Medicare and Cobra administration. MEWA.io will help to simplify the administration processes and maintain compliance to ERISA.

This system will manage the Medicare Small Employer Exception process with CMS for groups under 20 with members turning 65 years old. It will also streamline confirming required information with the employer on a recently termed employee prior to sending a COBRA or state continuation notice. These were both functions that were previously happening behind the scenes.

With MEWA.io, groups are getting a new, more efficient experience! Below is a link to a quick video from Anthem, which gives you an inside look into the new system. Cornerstone has highlighted some of the new features below.

MEWA.io will be launching June 8, 2020, for Anthem SOCA BP groups.

MEWA.io is designed to simplify administration, maintain compliance with ERISA, and keep plan costs down—all at no cost to the group.

Coordination of Coverage

  • When a plan participant terms coverage, an email is generated to the employer to verify the information on file, which can be verified with single click.
  • If changes need to be made, they can click on a link and make the changes right there if needed. In the case of multiple term records for a month, they can do this all at once. Once complete, MEWA.io will send continuation information to plan participant.

Medicare Eligible Employees

  • By default, Medicare is secondary.
  • If your group is fewer than 20, your group can use the exception request.
  • io will notify employers via email when a member becomes eligible.
  • Employers complete the forms and sign digitally. Plan administrators will confirm, countersign, and submit to CMS.

Document Center

  • Anytime an employer signs a form using MEWA.io, and the document will be stored in document center.
  • Other documents to be stored will include the MEWA agreement, MEWA information, SPD, etc.

Click here to access the walk through: https://mewa.io/soca/employer-walkthrough-email/#video

Contact your Cornerstone representative with any questions.

SOCA MEWA Product Dues Were Incorrectly Credited to June Invoices

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SOCA MEWA product dues were incorrectly credited to June invoices. Please be advised that Anthem is working to correct and adjustments will be made. You may recall that clients are receiving two invoices now, one for the SOCA product dues ($2.50 PEPM) and a separate bill for their Anthem premiums. Previously, the SOCA product dues were billed in April for the entire year.

Contact you Cornerstone representative with any questions.

Don’t Forget Open Enrollment for the Anthem Chamber Advantage is Open!

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We appreciate your continued business through Cornerstone and wanted to remind you that any group that has been written into the Anthem Chamber Advantage product is currently experiencing an open enrollment. The open enrollment’s last day to enroll is June 30, 2020. The effective date for any enrollment during this time will be June 1, 2020. Keep in mind, that the renewal date has not changed for any groups, as they will still be renewing in June 2021.

If you have any questions please contact your Cornerstone Broker Advisor.  

SOCA Product Dues Invoicing Change

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The Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance (SOCA) Participating Employers are required to execute a Participating Business Acknowledgement agreement, which requires the payment of product dues to SOCA. Effective May 1, 2020, and beginning with all Participating Employers that have active enrollment in May 2020, product dues will be invoiced to each Participating Employer monthly at a per employee per month rate of $2.50 for each employee listed on the product dues invoice.

No retroactive enrollment adjustments will apply for product dues invoicing. Anthem will bill these product dues monthly on behalf of SOCA. The product dues will be invoiced separately from the Participating Employer’s monthly premium equivalent rate invoice and will be debited from the same bank account previously authorized by each Participating Employer via their EFT/ACH Authorization Form executed at the time of original enrollment in the Plan.

Click here to view the communications from SOCA.

Contact your Cornerstone broker advisor with any questions.

Boost Your Earnings with Anthem’s Individual SEP Broker Bonus Program

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Anthem’s Individual SEP Broker Bonus Program rewards agents with a one-time bonus of $150 for each member (no family maximum) enrolled in an Individual ACA on- or off-exchange plan with an effective date between April 1 and December 1, 2020.

Agents must sell at least 10 members and those members must stay with Anthem for at least 90 days to qualify for the bonus.

This SEP business will also qualify for renewal commission effective January 1, 2020.

Click here to too see the full flyer.

Contact your Cornerstone representative with any questions.

January 2020 Anthem Updates

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Drug List Changes Coming April 1

As part of Anthem’s routine formulary review process, changes to the National, Essential and Traditional Open Drug Lists take effect April 1, 2020. Most are multi-source brand drugs (those with generic equivalents) that will be removed from the lists or moved to a higher benefit tier. Generic or brand-name alternatives will be covered in their place.

The Food and Drug Administration follows a rigorous review process for approving generics to make sure they work just as well or better than their brand-name equivalent.

Anthem will notify impacted members by mail starting January 31, 2020. The letters will tell members about other options they have for lower-cost alternative drugs that are covered.

Retail Stores Leaving Blue View Vision Feb. 1

National optical retail stores Sears Optical, JCPenney Optical and Stanton Optical will no longer be in Anthem’s Blue View VisionSM eye care plans as of February 1, 2020.

Anthem will send a mailer to impacted members who visited these optical stores in the past two years to let them know about the change. The mailer will list alternative eye-care professionals in their area. Members can also go to anthem.com and click on Find a Doctor to search for eye-care professionals in their area.

Clients with Blue View Vision still have access to more than 38,000 eye doctors at more than 27,000 locations nationwide. That includes local independent eye doctors, regional optical stores and national brand stores – Glasses.com, ContactsDirect, 1-800 CONTACTS, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, Eyemart Express and America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses. Anthem will continue to add new ones to their vision plans throughout the year.

SOCA Benefit Plan Members Move to New System

Starting at renewal, Southern Ohio Chamber Alliance (SOCA) Benefit Plan Small Group clients will move to another Anthem system for their benefit administration. Learn more about the new system. Plan now to join a webinar.

Click on the link below to join the webinar of your choice.

Use password PW1234 for all webinar dates.

Anthem KY ChamberAdvantage Plans Include Two Separate Fees

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Your Small Group clients who enroll in a ChamberAdvantage plan will be billed for Kentucky Chamber of Commerce product dues 30-45 days after enrollment and again at renewal. They’ll also be billed annually for membership dues, because this plan requires Chamber membership in a participating chamber. Make sure your clients understand that they have to pay the chamber both membership dues and product dues.

Product dues are an administrative fee billed per plan term by the Kentucky chamber. They’re calculated for each enrolled employee (employee only, not dependents) for each month of the policy term.

Here’s an example: Your client has a 17-month rate. Product dues will be $4 for each enrolled employee for 17 months.

The ChamberAdvantage product dues acknowledgement form explains the details. Go over it with your clients when they sign it, and submit it with the enrollment application. Don’t let them get surprised by a bill from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.  And be sure to set clear expectations with them about the dues. Payment of product dues is required, and Anthem has the right to terminate their policy if product dues are not paid.

Please call your Cornerstone Broker Advisor if you have any further questions.

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