Wellcare: Weekly News - 12/20 Edition

AEP is complete, and Wellcare hopes you had a successful selling season! Below is information on the following topics you may find helpful as you continue to work with your members:

• Book of Business Downloads – Update on viewing 01/01/2023 enrollments
• Pending Premium Withholding Options (PWO) –Reminder on interim coupon book payments    ‍
• Request For Information (RFI) Reminder – Resolving incomplete enrollments

Book of Business Downloads – Update!

Wellcare previously provided information regarding how to view 01/01/2023 effective date enrollments in your Book of Business through the Centene Workbench broker portal.              

Now, the Book of Business download feature within Centene Workbench has been updated to now include future effective date enrollments. 

This is an enhancement from the prior download report view which was limited to only current effective enrollments. Ex. Members with confirmed 01/01/2023 enrollment effective dates will now reflect in your Book of Business download prior to January 1st. 

Pending Premium Withholding Options (PWO) – Legacy Wellcare Plans Only

As a reminder, members who enroll in a health plan with a monthly premium can choose to have premiums withheld from their monthly Social Security Administration (SSA) or Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) payments or pay their premiums directly from their bank account using electronic funds transfer (EFT). When one of these Premium Withholding Options (PWO) is chosen AND is in a pending status, Legacy WellCare MA and PDP members will receive a coupon book.

Important Notes:

• The coupon book should be used to make monthly premium payments until their PWO is confirmed.
• The member will receive a letter confirming when SSA/RRB is approved, or if it has been rejected. Note: Not all members are eligible for this deduction. Requests are submitted to CMS for approval and delays are common between submission to CMS and when the responses are received.
• Once the member receives confirmation their PWO has been approved, they no longer need to use the coupon book to send in monthly premium payments.    
• New enrollees who requested the SSA/RRB deduction on applications fully processed before 12/5 will likely have their PWO confirmed and effective for 1/1/2023.
• January premiums are due on 1/20/2023. Members with pending SSA/RRB requests should not send direct payments until mid-January.
• Members may review the status of their payment method selection in the secure member portal, under “Pay Your Premium”.
• Once SSA/RRB is approved all premiums due from the effective date forward will be deducted and sent to us by SSA. Sometimes the deductions are not immediate, but SSA/RRB will deduct premiums for the effective date. For example, if SSA is effective 1/1/2023 the January payment will be deducted but the deduction may not occur until February or March
• Resources: Legacy WellCare Health Plan List for PWO

Request For Information Reminder

Request for Information (RFI) status occurs when a submitted application is either incomplete or contains incorrect information. To avoid processing delays or application denial, please ensure you provide accurate and complete information.

You will be informed through email and text message if you have applications in RFI status. Please be on the look out for these notifications and act promptly to resolve. Important: RFIs must be resolved within 21 days of application receipt from the member, or the application will be denied.

The RFI Resource Page contains further instructions on how to resolve RFIs.

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