Category: Company Updates

All over ClaimLinx, we have been working to cut down on our paper use to improve communication and reduce our carbon footprint. Health insurance tends to be a paper-heavy industry, with enrollment applications, incoming medical claims, documents from providers, invoices, Explanations of Benefits (EOBs) and more.

In looking at the company, we identified cutting down on paper use as a way to help the planet and a way to improve service for our clients and members. The more our process is stored digitally, the more people within the company can see what other team members are doing. We also liked the idea of needing less supplies so we can free up more resources to improve other parts of the company.

The claims and billing departments have been the latest to transition to using less paper. This has required changing some of our processes to depend on transferring items digitally, rather than physically. Last year in the service department, we transitioned our entire implementation process to digital.

Already we have seen this improve communication throughout the company, as multiple team members can now see documents others are working on, instead of single pieces of paper sitting on desks only individuals can see.

We encourage clients to take a similar look at processes at their company to see where they can be transitioned to using less resources. The best part about these adjustments is not only are they good for the planet, but also they often save the company money. Spending less on utilities and office supplies means you can spend more on upgrades to equipment, hiring more employees, training current employees, etc.

See these seven tips for reducing your carbon footprint at the workplace:

• Turn lights, computers, appliances and other machines completely off at the end of each day or when they are not in use.
• Try adjusting the thermostat to a few degrees cooler in the winter and a few degrees warmer in the summer.
• Switch to cloth towels or hand dryers in bathrooms and other wash areas.
• Cut down on printing by sharing documents digitally, getting electronic signatures or showing documents on a projector for meetings rather than printing.
• Place recycling bins at central parts of the workplace to serve as a reminder and to make it easy.
• Encourage staff to bring reusable water bottles, coffee mugs, containers, silverware and plates. You could even invest in a set of office cutlery and dishes.
• Add new or swap out artificial plants for real ones; they look nice and help purify the air.

Making changes in the office can be difficult. It has been at ClaimLinx as well. We had to take a real look at where we could adjust our processes so they depended on digital resources instead of the paper ones we were used to. That required investments in time and sometimes new software, but we believe this will help our company continue to evolve in the future.

The ClaimLinx office will be closed at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, November 21 through Friday, November 23 to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family. All inquiries will be returned as soon as possible upon our return.

We hope all our clients and members are able to enjoy the holiday with loved ones. Our staff will be prepping and cooking turkeys, chowing down on mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberries, stuffing and so much more. How will you be spending your Thanksgiving? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram by tagging @ClaimLinx.

To kick off the holiday, read more about Thanksgiving through the years:

• The first official national Thanksgiving holiday was in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln established an annual Thanksgiving celebration on the last Thursday in November.
• Abolitionist and author of the song “Mary Had a Little Lamb” Sarah Josepha Hale lobbied President Lincoln for a consistent annual Thanksgiving holiday through a letter-writing campaign for 17 years.
• Before 1863, presidents had to declare a holiday each year. President Thomas Jefferson was the only one who did not, because he believed in a strict separation of church and state. Since Thanksgiving involved prayer at the time, he thought it violated that principle.
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decreed in 1939 that Thanksgiving be moved one week earlier in order to extend the holiday shopping season. Many holiday purists did not like the change and only 23 of 48 states adopted the change until November 1941, where it has remained since.
• The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was in 1924, but it did not include the signature balloons the event is famous for now.  German-American illustrator Anthony Frederick Sarg designed them for the parade for the first time in 1927.
• In 1953, an employee at C.A. Swanson & Sons overestimated demand for turkey and had an extra 260 tons of frozen birds. As a solution, Swanson cooked them and arranged the meat with cornbread dressing, gravy, peas and sweet potatoes and sold them as individual dinners. Thus the TV-tray dinner was born.
• The NFL held the first Thanksgiving Classic games in 1920 and since then the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys have always hosted games. In 2006, a third game was added with different teams hosting each year.
• Butterball started a Turkey Talk Line in 1981 so families would have a resource for cooking their famous birds through the holiday season. Now they typically receive 100,000 calls per season. See what the Butterball team can help you with this year.

From all of our staff, we hope you have a fun and fulfilling Thanksgiving holiday. Our team will be ready to get back to helping clients and members through open enrollment after this welcome pause spent with friends and family.

Above Image Designed by FreePik

For the 2018 open enrollment period, ClaimLinx joined the Marketplace Elite Circle of Champions. This designation is given to agencies that actively help between 100 to 499 people make plan selections and enroll in coverage.

The award was given for the open enrollment period spanning November 1, 2017 to December 15, 2017. The next open enrollment period is coming soon, and our insurance agents are already working to get ready for that time. They have completed the required training and registration to begin helping consumers make plan selections for 2019.

ClaimLinx offers two options for individuals looking for health insurance during open enrollment. Anyone can go to ClaimLinxMarketplace.com to start shopping for plans directly from carriers or through the exchange. We also offer a consulting service in which a ClaimLinx agent walks an individual through the application process and helps that person choose a plan.

Our consulting service includes explanations about health insurance plans in general and helping the individual understand his or her new benefits plan. We have found this to be a vital asset for many people when looking for a new plan.

The service can be paid by an individual, or we also recommend this as an option for a company that does not currently provide health insurance but wants to offer its employees help in choosing a health insurance plan. See pricing here.

We offer this service because there’s more to choosing a health plan than simply filling out an application and looking at the price. There are a number of factors to think about. How much do you plan on using the insurance? Do you see any specialists or have any provider network requirements? Do you need any expensive medications throughout the year? Do you qualify for federal subsidies? All of these are important factors in choosing a plan.

If enrolling individuals on an insurance plan through the marketplace is a part of a company’s savings plan, ClaimLinx includes its individual consulting services as a part of the overall Simple Option Solution. Contact our sales team to learn more about your company’s options for savings on health insurance.

See ClaimLinx’s certificate for joining the Elite Circle of Champions.

The ClaimLinx office will be closed on Monday, September 4 to celebrate Labor Day with friends and family. All inquiries via phone or email with be returned as soon as possible when the office reopens with regular business hours on Tuesday.

We hope all our clients and members are able to enjoy the holiday safely with loved ones. Our staff will be attending cookouts, traveling to beaches and trying to enjoy the last gasps of Summer. How will you be spending your Labor Day weekend? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram by tagging @ClaimLinx.

Ever wonder where the Labor Day holiday comes from? The first Labor Day took place in New York City on September 5, 1882 when the Central Labor Union organized a march from City Hall to a picnic in an uptown park. Workers of all kinds, including cigarmakers, dressmakers, printers, shoemakers, bricklayers and other factory workers, carried signs advocating an eight-hour work day and higher wages.

At the time, men, women and children were known to work 12-hour work days up to seven days per week. It’s reported as many as 10,000 people came together to march that day.

The first Labor Day parade was a risk to the workers, because their one-day strike could have turned into a dismissal. As the labor movement grew across the country, more industrial centers followed New York City’s lead in celebrating the first Monday of September as a “workingmen’s holiday.” Parades across cities were made up of workers and labor unions holding signs about more rights and more pay to exhibit the strength of their organizations.

Amid a series of strikes and protests, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law on June 28, 1894 declaring Labor Day a national holiday. Recognizing the day nationally was seen as a way of maintaining support from labor organizations when they were becoming increasingly powerful.

Now, most people celebrate Labor Day with backyard barbecues or last gasps of summer celebration rather than parades with signs about labor rights. But maybe this year, with this little bit of history in hand, we can all take a minute to remember the organizations that gave workers this often much-needed day to unwind with friends and family.