Great news! Cigna Healthcare^SM Supplemental Benefits (CSB) Medicare Supplement (Med Supp) insurance products are now available as of today, April 12, on the SunFire Blaze and Blaze Connect platforms.*

What it is.

SunFire is a respected Medicare product quote and enroll platform that allows:

• agents and customers to easily review and compare Medicare products from different companies.
• for CSB agents, the ability to quote and enroll customers in CSB Med Supp plans using a custom, Express App-style platform. 

What this means for you.

• Easily move from reviewing products to submitting an application.
• SunFire has a familiar look and feel, as it is similar to Express App – just fill out the Med Supp application on the SunFire platform and SunFire will submit the application to Cigna Healthcare for review and issues.
• Streamlined bundling capability to add a Cigna Healthcare Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) after completing the Med Supp application (if you are contracted and certified to sell PDP).
• Convenient, in-platform reporting showing Med Supp enrollment breakdown for your agency.

Getting started. 

• Contact your upline for access to the SunFire platform if you don’t already have a login.
• If you have an existing login, access SunFire as you normally would. You’ll see that CSB Med Supp plans have been added into the flow.
• Resources on SunFire include FAQs, New to Sunfire? “walk-throughs”, and announcements of new products and services.

It’s important to know what to do and what not to do during OEP. To help you stay compliant, we have put together some helpful tips below.

To view the full Code of Federal Regulations, click here.

Market to Medicare Advantage age-ins who have not yet made an enrollment decision.

Market to D-SNP-eligible and LIS beneficiaries who, in general, may make changes once per calendar quarter during the first 9 months of the year.

Send marketing materials when a customer requests information.

Conduct one-on-one meetings at the customer’s request.

Provide information about OEP through the call center if a customer asks.

During OEP, you cannot:

Send unsolicited materials advertising or referencing OEP directly to your customers.

Purchase mailing lists or other identifying information to specifically target customers during OEP.

Engage in or promote activities intended to target OEP as an opportunity to make further sales.

Call or otherwise contact customers who selected a new plan during AEP.

Disaster (DST) Special Election Period (SEP) Compliance

To ensure you stay compliant, we want to remind you of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines regarding the use of a DST SEPs throughout the year.

SEP for Government Entity-Declared Disaster or Other Emergency

42 CFR 422.62(b)(18)

(Rev. 2, Issued: August 12, 2020; Effective/Implementation: 01-01-2021)

An SEP exists for individuals affected by a disaster or other emergency declared by a Federal, state or local government entity who were unable to, and did not make an election during another valid election period. This includes both enrollment and disenrollment elections.

Individuals are eligible for this SEP if they:

• Reside or resided at the start of the SEP eligibility period where a federal, state or local government entity declared a disaster or other emergency.
• Were eligible for another election period at the time of the Disaster Election Period (DST) eligibility period.
• Did not make an election during that other valid election period due to the disaster or other emergency.

The SEP starts on the date the declaration was made or the incident start date whichever is earlier. The SEP ends two full calendar months following the end date identified in the declaration or the date the end of the incident is announced, whichever is later.

Please note when using DST SEPs:

• This does not mean that active marketing can occur.
• The SEP is only for the purpose of providing a SEP to impacted individuals who had a valid election during the incident and were unable to make that election due to the emergency.
• This does not mean that Cigna Healthcare initiates waiving of authorization or referral requirements.
• This does not extend waiving of prior authorizations, referrals etc.

Even though AEP has come to a close, we want to remind you that you still have time to facilitate and submit health risk assessments (HRAs) for your customers. 

You have until December 22, 2023, to submit the HRA for any customer applications taken from October 1 – December 7 2023.

 Incentives:

Don’t miss out on Cigna Healthcare’s HRA incentives. You can earn $75 for HMO/PPO members and $125 for DSNP members. Facilitating an HRA is also a great way to obtain referrals and leads for the upcoming Medicare Open Enrollment Period (OEP).  

Don’t forget, Icario will no longer be available to facilitate HRAs after December 31, 2023.

If you haven’t already, please use one of the other tools below to facilitate HRAs moving forward. 

• SunFire or ConnectureDRX: HRA embedded in each program for agents that are fully integrated into the respective vendor platform.
• CignaforBrokers: For non-SunFire users and/or non-ConnectureDRX agency partners – Use single sign-on to access the SunFire HRA via the “Health Risk Assessment” link in the Tools section. 

• eEnrollment: HRA embedded at the end of the customer enrollment process. Access by clicking the “Cigna HRA Survey Tool” button on the enrollment Submission Confirmation screen.