ACA & Medicaid Face a Major Shift in 2026: What Health Plans Must Do to Protect Growth
ACA & Medicaid Face a Major Shift in 2026: What Health Plans Must Do to Protect Growth This article is based on Episode #3 of Insuring Growth, featuring Dr. Makayla Lavender, Health Economist and Professor at UNLV. Open enrollment is about to get harder, not because demand is changing, but because the rules are. In […]
What We Heard at the NABIP California Innovation Expo: Data, Distribution, and the Future of Benefits
e123 was proud to serve as a platinum sponsor of the NABIP California Innovation Expo in San Diego in February 2026. e123 president Brendan McLoughlin spoke on the Innovation Panel alongside Dawn McFarland, President of CAHIP and agency owner at MNM Benefits, and Manuel Alcaine, Founder of ClaspAI, a benefits administration management platform. Together, they […]
Champion Health Plan’s Bold Approach to Medicare Advantage
Champion Health’s approach to thriving C-SNPs
Invisible Risk: How Data Gaps Quietly Undermine Compliance
The Most Dangerous Compliance Risks Are the Ones You Don’t See Coming Compliance failures rarely begin with a major mistake or a single bad decision. More often, they build up slowly inside day-to-day operations that feel manageable in the moment. It might be a spreadsheet, a reconciliation pushed to next week, or a report that’s […]
Health Plans Are Rebuilding Their Tech Stack Around Distribution, Not Homegrown Solutions
For years, health plans have relied on systems to manage distribution that were never designed for it. Sometimes those systems were off-the-shelf CRMs. More often, they were homegrown combinations of spreadsheets, legacy tools, and heavily customized software stitched together over time. These systems became the center of the tech stack not because they were the […]
Health Insurance Predictions for 2026: Less Margin for Error, Less Room for Guesswork
In our 2025 Year in Review, we saw clear signs that the economics of health plan growth were changing. This post looks at what those shifts mean heading into 2026 and where plans should expect conditions to tighten. Most of what will define 2026 is already in motion. Preparation will matter more than prediction. Premium […]
2025 Year in Review: The Year Health Plans Began Rebuilding Sales Distribution for Resilient Growth
At the end of 2025, a simple truth became clear. Growth is no longer driven by top-line enrollment volume. It now depends on the strength of a plan’s distribution infrastructure and its ability to manage agents, compliance, and operational workflows with precision. The CMS Final Rule, shifting Star Ratings, and significant Medicare Advantage exits have […]
Brokers, Business, and Big Gains: How Health Plans Can Drive Profitable Growth in a Rapidly Changing World
At this year’ Texas Association of Health Plans (TAHP) conference, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion titled “Brokers, Business, and Big Gains: How Texas Health Plans Can Drive Profitable Growth in a Rapidly Changing World.” I was joined by industry leaders Cristin Hopkin-Bishop, Chief Operating Officer at The Brokerage Inc.; Kari Klass, […]
Inside Abacus — Why We Built It and What It Changes for Health Plans
Insuring Growth explores the biggest challenges and opportunities facing health insurance leaders, focusing on what executives need to know now. In our latest episode of Insuring Growth, I sat down with Kyle Mitchell, our VP of Product, to talk about one thing at the center of every plan’s growth challenges: distribution. For years, plans have invested […]
Dr. Makayla Lavender Explains How 2026 Policy Changes Will Redefine Open Enrollment
Insuring Growth explores the biggest challenges and opportunities facing health insurance leaders, focusing on what executives need to know now. As 2026 approaches, policy shifts are set to transform the ACA marketplace and Medicaid, creating ripple effects across the health insurance ecosystem. In Episode #3 of Insuring Growth, host and e123 President, Brendan McLoughlin, talks with […]