Minuteman Health brings in brokers to bolster health insurance signups

Minuteman Health wants members to join their co-op health insurance. So much so, they are willing to pay for them.

On Wednesday, the insurer became the first health plan in the state to agree to pay brokers a fee for enrolling individuals through the Health Connector, the state's open market website to shop for health insurance.

The money will give brokers an incentive to join the fray of those shopping for health insurance, allowing residents to use a broker to sort through health insurance options, rather than shopping on the website themselves. Connector officials approved the program on Tuesday.

'We've got thousands of brokers in the state, they have been doing this for years, are highly trained, know the industry inside and out,' said Tom Policelli, CEO of Minuteman. 'We're talking about a way to deploy a whole lot more folks who are trained to help a half million people who need to purchase coverage for this upcoming year. It's how can we get more people in to help.'

Over 450,000 people will have to reapply for health insurance by Nov. 15, largely due to the dismal failure of the health insurance website last year that prevented people from adequately shopping for and buying coverage.

That number includes 300,000 people on temporary Medicaid, 100,000 people in the legacy insurance program known as Commonwealth Care, and approximately 40,000 people on a qualified health plan obtained through the website.

It's a large number of people to transition in a short period of time, Policelli said, and there needs to be all hands on deck. The insurer subsequently petitioned Health Connector officials to allow them to pay brokers for Connector signups, a program ongoing in other states with federal exchanges.