CAHU President Addresses Health Insurance Agents in California

by John Hansen

With his CAHU Presidency coming to an end, Michael Lujan spoke out Wednesday to a group of health insurance agents in California that he has served. Lujan thanked the agents for their support.

CAHU Battles to Support California Agents

Lujan mentioned how CAHU’s battle over Proposition 25 was a really big deal. Often it felt like they had to focus on that proposition and do nothing but that. Prop 25 would have been a big disruption to California insurance brokers. Lujan says, “I’m glad we won.”

CAHU stands for the California Association of Health Underwriters. This organization of health insurance agents in California works to protect broker interests. They lobby in Sacramento and advise political leaders related to California health insurance plans, consumers and agents.

The CAHU Website

One of the things that got overlooked during that time was the updating of the CAHU website. However, Lujan says that now they’ll be able to move forward with the website by creating a fresher brand and making it easier to use. He said, “The website is the glue that keeps the association together and helps it attract new members.”

Lujan went on to thank Dave Fear, CAHU Vice President of Legislation and California health insurance agent. Lujan also praised the CAHU Capital Summit 2016. The Summit was organized by Dave Fear, and it will be Lujan’s last as president. He seemed very pleased with the lineup of speakers as were the CA health insurance agents that were present.

Relationship with California Insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones

Lujan said, “It’s a big deal even though he’s right up the street to have Dave Jones speak to [health insurance agents in California].”

The Commissioner, Dave Jones, oversees the regulation of health insurance in California. Jones spoke at the CAHU Capital Summit on Tuesday and was a conference favorite for many of the California agents present. The interaction seemed positive for all including Jones, who is the head of the California Department of Insurance. Lujan thought, “This might make him a more regular attendee” at the CAHU events.

Lujan said that they have begun a discussion around the issue of California health agents collecting fees. He said, “This will be an ongoing discussion.” He made reference to the CAHU white paper that argues for the value of the broker, and he said that CAHU would continue to fight for legislation that promotes the role of health insurance agents in California. He concluded, “We are an agent association, and we are doing our absolute best to serve agents.”