CAHU’s PAC Fights for California Agents

Posted: June 27, 2016

by John Hansen

One of the goals of CAHU is to increase its membership and its revenue, which fund its Political Action Committee (PAC). The PAC fights for the interests of California agents by lobbying in Sacramento on capital hill. PAC is the legislative and advocacy arm of CAHU, the California Association of Health Underwriters.

According to CAHU, “PAC advocates on behalf of health insurance agents and their clients on numerous issues of vital concern, including their role in the solicitation of health, long-term care, annuity and life insurance products, insurance market reform, rising health care costs, and regulations affecting agents.”

PAC Gets Donations from CA Agents at the Capital Summit 2016

At the CAHU Capital Summit on Tuesday, May 17, a CAHU member named Brad led the efforts to fundraise for PAC. He said, “Compared to last year at this time, PAC revenues are down 32%.”

The many California agents in the room felt the impact of that statement. Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), agent commissions have dropped severely. CAHU, through PAC, fights for CA agent and broker compensation, so many agents feel that PAC is necessary for their voices to be heard in Sacramento.

The fundraising goal of PAC for the summit was $75,000. Brad, a California agent himself, held a sign with an empty thermometer that said $75,000 at the top. Then representatives from various CAHU chapters throughout California came up with checks ranging from $1,000 to $7,000 to support PAC.

By the end of the day on Wednesday, May 18, the California agents at Summit 2016 had raised $45,000. Also, there were some additional checks that had not been tallied yet.