Ode to the Underdogs

It wasn’t too long ago many people, including some of our elected officials, thought the Affordable Care Act was the beginning of the end for health and benefits consultants. Remember the anticipated market destruction for those involved in providing health and benefits solutions for their clients and clients’ employees when the ACA was initiated?

Some industries when hit with this kind of tidal wave of change throw their hands up and give up. It is a credit to all of you that you were agile and smart enough to view this change not as an obstruction but rather as an opportunity to highlight your value and serve your clients even better than before.

I think we all agree the space within our industry that has endured the biggest evolution is our benefits sector. And the articles in this month’s magazine make it clear major questions on the employee benefits front still abound. Will Colorado actually choose a single-payer healthcare system? How are we faring now that we’re more than five years into ACA implementation? Can Big Pharma continue to get away with hiking up drug prices (so high they can actually force employers who foot the bill to sell their business)? And what about retirement? Is our workforce financially prepared?

Some may see these issues and cower. But we see an opportunity to lead the charge.

As our industry evolves, there is never fear; just a determined view that our clients have needs and we are going to do our best to understand them better and help them find the right, strategic solutions.

I’m talking about joining the fight in Colorado to save the state from taking on an enormous financial burden with no clear way to improve Coloradans’ health. I’m talking about digging in to the legislative and regulatory confusion of healthcare reform and making sense of what employers need to know and what they need to do to keep their costs stable and their employees healthy. I’m talking about helping clients make complicated decisions about drug coverage for employees and speaking out about the need for (gasp) government intervention. I’m talking about making inroads with baby boomers who can’t afford to retire and young millennials who don’t think they need to think about it.

This is the broker response to those who said your line of business was on the verge of death.

Today’s market is covered with new and innovative solutions. Some will succeed and some will fail, but it’s clear there is no shortage of innovation and focus. More and more, new business models are emerging around the delivery of client services, and they are all focused on what the client needs, wants and is, rather than worrying about the process behind the curtain.

I remember quite clearly a discussion about a new model that was causing many traditional brokers some concern. As the discussion swirled about all the stuff we do for clients behind that curtain, one broker stated so eloquently, “Our clients don’t give a s%#* about all that stuff; they just want what they need when they need it.”

People like this are innovating outside the box and providing new solutions, and in the process, they are reshaping the industry that we all work in to alleviate pain points, to eliminate inefficiencies and to just create better customer experiences. Surprising? Not really. So often we all have been underestimated.

It is this spirit that highlights our incredibly dynamic industry—one that is ripe with innovation and new beginnings. Heck, it is cause for celebration. Which is exactly what we’ll be doing at this year’s 15th Employee Benefits Leadership Forum, May 31–June 3. Celebrating change, celebrating innovation, celebrating growth.