OSCAR Annual Recertification Requirement

Good news!

As you know, the program we use to process Oscar’s appointments has created issues for you and some some of our agents. We have been working closely with our vendor over the past month to resolve these problems, but a significant number of our returning agents have not completed the program to date.

In light of these issues, we have decided to waive the requirement that all returning agents complete a recertification program. For agents who were appointed with Oscar last year, the Sentinel Elite program will now be optional. In place of a Writing Number assigned by Oscar these agents may continue to use their NPN when they submit business to Oscar for the duration of this Open Enrollment.

We hope this change will make your jobs easier and allow you to focus your efforts on the much smaller number of new agents who need to go through the appointment process.

Please note that all contractual and regulatory requirements outlined in Oscar’s Producer Agreement remain in place for these agents. Most importantly:

All agents must have a valid license and active appointment with Oscar

All agents writing business on Healthcare.gov must have completed Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM) certification for 2017 before submitting any enrollments

All agents must maintain current Errors & Omissions insurance in the amount of $1 million in aggregate / $1 million per incident

It remains the responsibility of the agent to ensure they remain licensed and appointed before selling any Oscar policies this Open Enrollment. Oscar cannot pay commissions on any policies written while an agent is out of compliance with these requirements.

Note that agents who are new to Oscar must still complete the Sentinel Elite program to get appointed with Oscar. This is the only way for them to sign our Producer Agreement and get appointed. We will be reaching out directly and through you to agents who have started but not completed the Sentinel Elite program to help them through the process.

We will be sending a notice to all affected agents tomorrow afternoon informing them of this change.