Your clients have selected their plan, you’ve completed applications, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Open Enrollment Period (OEP) is now over. Congratulations!
To expand your under-65 insurance business outside of OEP, you can seek SEP opportunities, offer ancillary/complementary coverage, set new goals, generate brand awareness, and build your professional development and pipeline to other lines of business such as Medicare.
Let’s examine these a little deeper!
SEP Opportunities
After the OEP has closed, your clients may still be able to sign up for an individual health plan or switch plans. Select events can trigger eligibility for a Special Enrollment Plan (SEP) and a specific timeframe they can make changes to their coverage.
People who lose their health care coverage could qualify for an SEP and look to the marketplace to find an affordable health care option. These significant changes may create opportunities for individuals to find the right option for them and their situation.
As of August 2025, there is no longer an SEP for based on income qualifications. Clients will have to experience a qualifying life event to be able to enroll in coverage outside of the OEP.
Those qualifying life events are:
- Loss of health coverage
- Changes in household (marriage, divorce, childbirth, or death in the family)
- Changes in residence
- Gaining U.S. citizenship
- Leaving incarceration
New Jersey offers an Expanded Access SEP that allows consumers with an annual income up to 200% of the FPL to enroll at any time during the year.
Offering Ancillary Coverage
While individual health plans cover 10 essential health benefits, benefits such as vision and dental care are generally not provided for adults. Some plans offer optional dental and vision coverage at an additional cost, but others do not. It’s important to see if your client is missing, and desires, this extra coverage.
There are dental plans offered on the exchange. To enroll in these plans, clients must apply during the OEP or an SEP, if they qualify. Outside of the exchange, there are multiple companies that offer competitively priced dental, vision, and hearing policies that you can offer to clients throughout the whole year.
Outside of the exchange, there are multiple companies that offer competitively priced dental, vision, and hearing policies that you can offer to clients throughout the whole year.
To minimize risk and keep coverage affordable, consider suggesting a hospital indemnity plan. Clients who are enrolled in a bronze plan have the lowest premium, but the plan will only pay about 60 percent of costs, leaving the client responsible for the remaining 40 percent.
Pairing a bronze plan with a hospital indemnity policy can be an affordable way for clients to reduce their potential out-of-pocket costs. Hospital indemnity plans may also be sold all year round. Consider generating business after the OEP by looking into additional ancillary products.
Just getting started in the hospital indemnity market or ? Or want to know more about how to leverage this potential audience? Download our guide, The Insurance Agent’s Guide to Understanding Hospital Indemnity Policies!
Setting New Goals
As the busy season concludes, we recommend taking the time to reflect on your achievements.
To start your goal-setting process, we recommend completing a SWOT analysis. This means analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis can give you insights about your business that you can use to create better and more informed goals.
Consider specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (or SMART goals for short) goals that can help you throughout the year. If you meet your goals throughout the enrollment period, consider setting a new goal that will be a challenge. You never know what’s possible if you don’t strive to achieve it.
And remember, Ritter Insurance Marketing is always here to help you with the resources you need and the advice you may want to have your best year yet.
Start your year with fresh goals! Keep track of your goals and important dates with The Busy ACA Agents’ Sales Calendar!
Generating Brand Awareness
Generating awareness of your brand is crucial to the success of your small business. Social media and online advertising are excellent ways to promote your business.
Facebook allows small business owners to create a Facebook Business Page for free. We suggest chiming in on community Facebook groups to advertise your services. Apps such as Nextdoor are also a great way to get in touch with individuals in your community with no additional cost to you.
We suggest creating well-crafted social media pages to reach potential clients.
If you’re still trying to create or refine your social media strategy, consider downloading our social media eBook! We suggest strategies and other ways to advertise your small business.
Professional Development
Being a small business owner is more than just conquering the annual open enrollment period. To see all-year success, consider professional development resources outside of the busy season. Take a Knight School training, join a local professionals group, or catch up on some great reading for insurance professionals.
Your business is a constantly evolving practice. Staying innovative is a great way to generate growth all year round.
Reach out to fellow industry professionals to create affinity partnerships in the “off-season” that could benefit you and your clients. Great examples are tax professionals, attorneys, and local health care providers. Collaborative effort and shared success is in your future!
Building Your Pipeline
Consider looking to other lines of business to generate sales. Bring in referrals by looking to your current client base and suggesting your services. If you sell Medicare Advantage, prescription drug plans, and/or Medicare Supplements, we have a letter template that you can use with clients to generate ACA referrals. This strategy also works well for other lines of business!
We also suggest practicing community engagement. By getting to know the needs of your community, you will be able to anticipate where your services may be needed most. Participate in community events and speak to individuals attending the event; suggest your services when appropriate. Creating a presence in your community is valuable!
When it’s time, your ACA clients may age out of their marketplace plan. If your client was able to trust their health insurance needs with you for years, when it becomes time for them to sign up for a Medicare plan, you can help them find the right plan by guiding them from the marketplace to Medicare.
Congratulations on your success during the OEP. We are looking forward to the rest of the year! Don’t miss the opportunity to take advantage of unique sales scenarios such as the ones we’ve listed above. If you’re anxious about stepping into a new line of business, reach out to our dedicated Sales team who can help you answer the tricky questions.
At Ritter Insurance Marketing, we’re committed to providing you with the tools you need to succeed. We have a diverse library of contracts, and access to top-tier technology from Integrity to make selling marketplace plans easier than before. Register with Ritter today to have access!
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency.
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