Nicole (Cook) Gunderson

Health Insurance Brokers: States Leaning Into ICHRA, Are Opening Opportunities to Soar in 2026! With ICHRA adoption accelerating nationally, certain states are becoming high-value markets for brokers who want to expand their consultative impact and win small–midsize groups. 📍 Key States Showing Strong ICHRA Momentum Ohio • Georgia • Texas • Florida • Mississippi • New Hampshire • Minnesota • Montana These states are standing out due to: Emerging tax-credit proposals (Ohio, Georgia, Texas) Strong individual market competition that makes ICHRA more affordable than group coverage (FL, MS, NH, MN, MT) Growing employer demand for predictable benefits costs and simpler plan management 🔑 What This Means for our Broker Partners - Go for the Gold! Renewal strategy advantage: ICHRA is a credible alternative as group premiums continue to rise. Incentive-driven openings: Legislative momentum in OH, GA, TX gives brokers a new story for small groups struggling with affordability. Market differentiation: In competitive individual-market states, brokers can immediately present ICHRA as a strategic cost-control tool. New revenue opportunities: More employers evaluating defined contribution models = more room for consultative selling. 📈 Bottom Line These states offer brokers a prime opportunity to lead conversations around cost containment, plan flexibility, and long-term benefits strategy. As ICHRA momentum builds, brokers who lean in now will be the ones winning in 2026 renewals. ICHRA opens an SEP - so you're not too late to make a difference for 2026 season Leeway makes ICHRA easy, and broker focused. #ICHRA #goforthegold #healthinsurance #employeebenefits

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Erik Pickett joined Al Klein for another episode of the Society of Actuaries’ podcast series on the Long-Term Drivers of Future Mortality paper. Episode 6 of the series is out now and focuses on health care. The episode discusses the variety of health care systems that can be found worldwide, how they function, and how they might change in the future with developments in science and technology. You can listen anywhere you get your podcasts or access all episodes and the accompanying paper here: https://lnkd.in/gf5i2H4s #actuaries #longevity #mortality #inequality

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What if long-term care planning could be personalized down to the individual level? One of the challenges with LTC planning is that conversations often rely on broad statistics and general assumptions rather than individualized insights. In Episode 129 of the Optimized Advisor Podcast, Evan Ehrenberg explains how Waterlily is introducing a more data-driven approach to these conversations. Using more than 500 million data points, the platform can generate personalized predictions around: • Likelihood of needing long-term care • The age care may begin • Expected duration of the care event • How care intensity may increase over time • Estimated costs based on a client’s zip code This allows advisors to move beyond hypothetical conversations and instead show clients what a potential care journey might actually look like for them. From there, funding strategies — including insurance and self-funding approaches — can be modeled against the client’s predicted scenario. The result is a conversation that shifts from generic planning → personalized decision making. 🎧 Listen to Episode 129 of the Optimized Advisor Podcast to learn how advisors are integrating these insights into their planning process. #FinancialAdvisors #LongTermCarePlanning #WealthManagement #InsuranceProfessionals #RetirementPlanning

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ICYMI: here’s another clip from the premiere episode of Beyond Quality featuring Rex Wallace and Nate Lucena with guest Eve Anderson, FSA 🎙️👇 We asked: “Is there a shared understanding in the bid room?” This is where quality strategy meets actuarial finance, and where misalignment gets expensive fast. Season 1 of Beyond Quality is in collaboration with RISE 📺 : https://lnkd.in/gv-MpmfK 🎧 : https://lnkd.in/gNJ_vEgv #MedicareAdvantage #QualityStrategy #Actuarial #HealthPlanLeadership #BidStrategy #ValueBasedCare #RiskAdjustment #HealthcareFinance

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Most traditional health insurance plans weren’t designed with ease of use in mind. They were designed to function. Over time, that focus on function turns into friction. Extra steps get added and access slows down. Eventually, a plan that technically “works” becomes one insureds quietly avoid. But here’s the part we don’t talk about enough: Small design changes can have outsized impact. Fewer steps to get care, clearer explanations of what’s covered, faster access to a real person, one less login, one less handoff—small adjustments like these can completely change how health benefits are experienced day to day. Not by rebuilding the entire system overnight. But by smoothing the moments where people get stuck. #EmployeeBenefits #HealthcareExperience #BenefitsStrategy #HealthAccess #HealthInsurance #SupplementalBenefits #EnsuraHealth

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🚨 New Generation Space Podcast Episode Alert 🚨 Portfolio Spotlight with CEO Mike Gulla of Adaptive Insurance 🌍 Host Leah Martin chatted with Mike Gulla, CEO of Adaptive Insurance, a Texas-based startup using AI-driven parametric insurance to tackle climate risk head-on. Fresh off a $5M Seed round, Mike shares how Adaptive is helping communities and businesses stay resilient in the face of increasingly extreme weather. Lewis Alun Jones, Generation Space’s VP of Investment also joined the conversation, to unpack why Adaptive is a standout in the space. 🔗 Listen now: https://lnkd.in/eXNBtWkv

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