MEDIA HIT HIGHLIGHTS

OCTOBER 2015

BY THE NUMBERS

In October, NAHU received more than 739 press hits

In September, NAHU received more than 443 press hits.

So far in 2015, NAHU has received 5,927 press hits.

In 2014, NAHU received more than 7,600 press hits.

PRINT MEDIA IN OCTOBER

“Under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, the health insurance industry's definition of a “small group employer” is set to change on Jan. 1 from up to 50 employees to up to 100. This expansion will require employers of 51 to 100 to select a new plan offered in the small group market,” said Leah-Anne Janway, president of the Oklahoma City chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters.”

“David Oscar, an insurance broker in Fairfield and spokesman for the New Jersey Association of Health Underwriters, called the offerings on the health exchange "an interesting mixed bag." While the federal government announced earlier this week that prices in New Jersey were going up an average of 5 percent, Oscar said he'd noticed increases of 5 to 9 percent.

That means New Jersey consumers avoid some of the hefty hikes seen in other states - as well as in New Jersey in previous years. Oscar said some of his clients feel the ACA has caused annual increases to level out. "They are somewhat steady," he said. "It makes it easier to plan and budget."

“Re-insurance dollars that flow from the federal government to providers will dry up at the end of 2016, leaving insurers with a larger bill for sicker customers, said Heidi Michaels Mathson, president of the Minnesota Association of Health Underwriters. And as prices rise, more consumers and employers may migrate back to group coverage, exacerbating the problem by shrinking the individual market pool.

"I think it will be something similar to what we're seeing this year," she said of price hikes in 2017.”

“The National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU), which represents health insurance brokers, issued a statement applauding Obama for signing the law.

“As we await the decisions of the states, NAHU will continue to work with the carriers, state legislators and state insurance commissioners on implementation,” association Chief Executive Officer Janet Trautwein said in the release.”

“First of all, don't panic,” said Kelly Fristoe, Regional Vice President of the National Association of Health Underwriters. “We have until December 31st to make some decisions for our January first coverage.”

“It's very important that they, the consumers, seek out their advice and counsel as it comes to enrolling and understanding the details moving forward,” said Fristoe.

"It's really a win-win, because it benefits the consumer, and it also benefits the employer," said Susan Rider, an insurance broker for Gregory & Appel in Indianapolis.”

“This is a big win for agents,” said Michael Lujan, president of the California Association

of Health Underwriters, one of the sponsors of the bill. “We have it in property/casualty,

but not in health care. We didn’t think we needed it."

POPULAR OCTOBER SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

Twitter Facebook

OCTOBER UPDATE: SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

Since its launch in January, NAHU's new social media campaign has tremendously increased our social media presence, numbers and viewership on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We are excited to share October’s analytics indicating the campaign's great progress.

Twitter:

In October, NAHU’s profile was visited 1,783 times. NAHU gained 154 followers for a total of 6,008. NAHU engagement* rate was 1.4 percent. Our tweets were seen on average 1,600 times per day -- a 6 percent increase over September's average.

Facebook:

NAHU’s posts reach*, on average, 1,120 unique individuals each day -- a more than 17 percent increase over September's average.

NAHU’s posts were liked, on average, 21 times and shared 11 times per day this month. One of NAHU’s posts about getting enrolled garnered 35 shares and reached* more than 3,400 people.

Campaigns:

People clicked on links in NAHU’s posts about the PACE act more than 90 times. Links to NAHU’s webinars have been clicked 198 times. Links to NAHU’s Find a Broker tool have been clicked more than 122 times.

*Key Terms: The engagement rate for a tweet is the number of users who clicked, favorited, shared, or replied to a tweet as a percentage of the number of users who saw the tweet. The engagement rate in the report is the average engagement rate for all of NAHU’s tweets in the given month. The reach on Facebook is the number of different people who see any of NAHU’s content -- whether in their newsfeed, on NAHU’s profile, or otherwise.

IMPORTANCE OF MEDIA COVERAGE

We often send these clips to policymakers to alert them of the issues we are facing. The more high-profile media coverage we received, the more attention policymakers will pay to our issues.

Media placement means an increased understanding of the issues in the public, both inside and outside the industry.

Media attention increases NAHU name recognition and branding.

We do not pay for our media placements. All coverage received by our members is free business promotion, which promotes NAHU members as subject-matter experts.

Good information and solid sound bytes provided by an NAHU member means other reporters will want to use that member as a resource.