A key component of the Health Rosetta strategy is transparent advisor relationships. This week, legislation was introduced by the Senate HELP committee with Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and ranking Democrat Patty Murray (WA) that, among other things, will require brokers & consultants to disclose all their sources of compensation. There are other facets of the legislation such as surprise medical bills and drug costs that will get more attention. However, it’s the transparency around compensation coming from carriers, PBMs, and other vendors that has the potential for the biggest industry impact.
As was exposed by Propublica and NPR earlier this year, supposedly independent brokers often receive undisclosed money and gifts to influence the plans that brokers recommend their clients. As the article reports, “The payments and perks include healthy commissions, six-figure bonuses and exotic island vacations. Critics call the compensation a “classic conflict of interest” that drives up costs.”
Health Rosetta co-founder, Dave Chase describes the issue further:
The issue of transparency is the absolute lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to fixing the dysfunctional way the healthcare insurance market works. Hidden fees and incentives are one of the dirty little secrets of employer-provided insurance. Without targeted focus and hard work on this issue, we’ll never be able to fix healthcare. This single bill is not going to solve every problem, but it’s proof that the Health Rosetta story is starting to become more widespread.
Simpara was built upon values of transparency and alignment of our clients’ best interest. Healthcare's runaway costs required that we re-build the agency model from the ground up to support transformation in an entrenched industry and this Senate bill is affirmation of our work and of the greater Health Rosetta community. For more information regarding our transparency pledge, click here.
While the Senate bill’s language may change, as things do in DC, we believe this is a positive step towards truly affordable healthcare in this country.
