Emma Hoo is currently Director at the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH). Previously, Ms. Hoo worked at PacAdvantage. On January 11, 2012, she participated at a forum sponsored by the California Endowment and organized by the* California Small Business Majority. Ms. Hoo commented on her lessons learned while at *PacAdvantage.

Price, Price, Price

“Cost is the primary factor driving insurance decisions for small business owners. The exchange needs to find a way to lower administrative costs for small businesses and market that. PacAdvantage wanted to market the quality of the health plans it offered. We were off base. People wanted price, price, price.”

Brokers

“One of the mistakes PacAdvantage made was setting up a system that made it more profitable for brokers to sell to very small groups. The rest got ignored and were undersold. One of the challenges is setting a fee for brokers that works.”