Category Archives: Agency Operations

 Employee benefits are inequitable — and it’s getting worse

Posted on April 12, 2022 | 2 comments

Read my recent article as published in Employee Benefit News. See the link below.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employer HR, Health Care, Uncategorized

Webinar Invite – The Transformation of Employee Benefits

Posted on October 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

For Employee Benefits Brokers

October 27th and November 4th

12:00 – 12:45 Eastern Time

“If everyone is thinking alike then nobody is thinking.”
Ben Franklin
REGISTER NOW
The wheels of change are in motion and employee benefit programs offered by employers have started the move to a whole new benefits model. Employers are welcoming this change, and employees are reaping significant financial benefits. It is “transformational”. In this webinar we will present this new benefits model and outline how benefits brokers can separate themselves from the pack by delivering a unique and compelling value proposition. Many brokers may see this as a threat to one’s current business, but we think it is an opportunity. This can be your Netflix or Blockbuster moment. Let’s make it a Netflix like moment.

The agenda is as follows:

* The Foundation for Change
* What the Democrats and Republicans Agree On
* How Group Health Benefits Could Go Away Fast
* The “New Math” of Employee Benefits A
* New Employee Benefits Model
* Introducing a Proprietary Solution for Brokers
* The New Revenue Model

This webinar provides brokers a plan to thrive in a changing benefits world. To participate just click on one of the Register Now buttons. If you have any questions, give us a call at 508-498-7591.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, Health Care

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Rapidly Grow Your Benefits Business This 4th Quarter – Webinar July 28th – 12 – 12:30 EDT

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

Register Now

The opportunity to deliver whole new employee benefits solution to market and create rapid growth is here. In this webinar we will introduce a model that is designed to help brokers grow by 20% annually while helping employers reduce health care costs, forever. And this is NOT the short-term type solutions most other brokers are delivering.

This webinar is by invite only as we are looking for just 2 brokers per market to deliver this new model. We think leads will be rolling in. Without giving up too many secrets the agenda is as follows:

• Review of the Changing Market Trends
• Gaps in the Market and Opportunities
• The Broker Blind Spots – What Many are Missing
• How Brokers Can Grow Revenues
• The Marketing and Sales Plan Overview

The time to act is now. Getting the message out in advance of the 4th quarter is an important to generating activity. To participate in this webinar just click on the Register Now button. If you have questions, feel free to give me a call at 508-498-7591.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, HR and Benefits Technology, ICHRA

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The Status Quo is “The Other Guy”

Posted on January 20, 2020 | 1 comment

What is the status quo? In the benefits business, there are many who like to label the “other guy” as protecting the status quo. Yet, after I learn about what the person making the proclamation about his/her competitor is really doing, I conclude that they are protecting the status quo too. I know there is a desire to be different in business. Many books have been written about needing to be different. However, one is not different through a simple proclamation.

I hear new ideas every day. In the health insurance and health care businesses some of these proclaimed “new ideas” are really repackaged “old ideas”. Private Exchanges promoted as new in 2014 were recreations of cafeteria plans sold in 1986. Level-funded plans are similar to minimum premium plans sold in the early 90’s. GAP type plans were being administered in the late 80’s. On many occasions, these were promoted as new and if you didn’t sell these products, you were protecting the status quo.

Now we have an army of benefits advisors promoting things like direct provider contracting, direct primary care, referenced-based pricing, as the new savior of the health insurance system. Yet, according to one-person I quote and trust, Mark Bertolini, ex-CEO of Aetna, “direct contracting will be a failed model”. Those promoting these programs are claiming that those that don’t promote them are “protecting the status quo” while a respected insurance executive says they won’t work. Who is one to believe?

I am taking a different perspective. What if protecting employer-based insurance in general is protecting the status quo? There are brokers running around saying “Mr./Ms. Employer, you are in the health insurance business, get over it and take control”. Put in all these programs to micro-manage your claims. Well I am pretty sure employers don’t want to be in the health insurance business and be in the claim’s management business. (Though they don’t mind giving the employee some money.) If given the option to get out they would.

I am also pretty sure most employees would like more health insurance options versus having the limited options provided by employers. I know I would want more options. Yet I see no lobbying to get the employer out of the middle of health insurance, other than from the likes of Mark Bertolini and President Trump. So, if virtually everyone wants the employer out of the middle, then I would conclude that protecting employer-based insurance is protecting the status quo?

President Trump, through Executive Order, made the biggest change to our health insurance system in the last 60 years. However, rather than embrace it and deliver what most employers and employees want, the industry is somewhat ignoring it. I have some news though; this is not going away. The train has left the station. Employers and employees will eventually get what they want, and when they get it, they won’t go back.

So as one wanders through this health insurance maze, pause before you label “the other guy” as the one who is protecting the status quo. In some eyes, the one protecting the status quo may be the one in the mirror.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, Employer HR, Health Care, HR and Benefits Technology, Private Exchanges

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The Health Insurance Tsunami is Coming – and It Will End Employer Health Insurance as We Know It

Posted on October 24, 2019 | 1 comment

By Joe Markland and Mike Davis

This article is being written after an open and honest discussion with my benefits broker friend Mike Davis this morning over breakfast. Mike is a 30-year veteran in the business who had already sold his first benefits business around 10 years ago. After some in depth thinking we drew the same conclusion as it relates to the employee benefits business. A tsunami is coming at the employee benefits broker and most don’t see it, but it is out there. This tsunami can reduce commissions from $30 PEPM to $15 PEPM overnight. For those not prepared it could be catastrophic, however for those prepared, there may be fertile ground on the other side. Regardless, it is coming.

Mike – While this is something I have thought of as inevitable for several years, this renewal season has somewhat sealed the deal in my mind. Large increases and even a non-renewal in a market where recent tax law changes are giving employers an “out” have made me conclude it is imminent. The problem with employer-based health insurance is the perpetual gamesmanship required to find a different or better risk pool. Solutions like hiding in the pool, self-funded, level-funded, referenced based pricing, captives, and associations are all short-term solutions designed to “game the system”. In reality, the types of plans or funding are segmenting the risk pool which contributes to the larger problem of rising health care premiums in America. Many don’t want to admit this, but we are all whispering to ourselves that this is the reality. As a result, health insurance and then health care is about to change in significant ways and distributors like myself need to act or get wiped out. The phase-out of the current system and opportunity to morph has just begun.

Joe – I have been watching this market for some time and have conducted webinars and written articles about the “Coming End to Employer-based Insurance”. I will be honest, I have taken many arrows from brokers who have not liked my message, though my message is simply based on listening to people like Mark Bertolini, ex-CEO of Aetna, and an advisor to Donald Trump. Both are saying that employers should not be in the middle of health care. Bertolini took action selling to CVS. Trump through Executive Order made an individual policy tax deductible and allows the Employer to use the HRA as a contribution conduit for their contribution. They spoke. I listened and acted myself by forming my new company, N4one HR and Benefits, that is designed to thrive whether the health insurance market changes or doesn’t.

We aren’t saying the sky is falling for the sake of selling fear. From others perspective the current employer-based healthcare market is already very broken. Employers and employees’ skies are already falling because the cost burden of health insurance is significantly impacting profitability and for the individual their personal financial health. For much too long the existing ecosystem of carriers, brokers, and administrators have simply pushed the costs around. And the argument that health insurance costs are high because the cost of healthcare is high will fall on deaf ears. Healthcare costs are high because the current health care financing models do not create incentives to control costs. Those incentives need to change which include empowering the consumer.

Employers are sick and tired of being in the health insurance business. Some have started the process of getting out by looking to offer individual products through an HRA. There will be some this year, more next year, and before long there will be a Tsunami moving to individual options. We believe that after the election the deduction for health insurance will move away from the employer and to the individual, ending traditional group health insurance forever.
People and businesses are slow to change. Employees at Blockbuster were Netflix subscribers and Blockbuster could have bought Netflix. We think this is your Blockbuster moment. The Tsunami is coming. We don’t know when it will hit but it could be much sooner than anticipated. It really doesn’t matter to a certain extent because if 5% of your clients want out and you don’t know which 5% then you need to address them all. This must start NOW as the renewal season has begun, and the law takes effect for this renewal.

We have built a model that we believe can help a broker not only survive but thrive when this wave hits. However, it takes careful planning, hard work, and flawless execution. This takes time and scale. Our model shortens that time and delivers the scale needed.

Mike – Joe has been talking about this for some time. I was a doubter too (as to so soon), but his predictions have come true. A simple stroke of the pen and the world has changed. It can change even more. His argument about market dynamics simply makes sense. I read 3 weeks ago of Cigna’s re-entry into the individual market, then the same last week of United. The ACO/Value Based tight network plans are emerging from commercial carriers and Health Systems as well. While difficult for an employer to choose one ACO plan that serves all, if each individual can choose on their own, the viability increases exponentially…not to mention the individual’s ability to purchase very rich or very lean benefits to suit their needs. Like you, I can’t take the chance that the market doesn’t change. As the saying goes, “Hope is not a strategy.”

Our solution requires three things:
• First, prepare for a world where you can handle twice as many clients with the same amount of staff. This can happen in a future world where service demand decreases substantially as it is supplanted by on-line/telephonic enrollment and member services.
• Two, expand your revenue capabilities by expanding your product/services capabilities.
• Third, market, market, market, the new value proposition to sever existing relationships

We think that the small brokerage firms with deep local knowledge and relationships, and entrepreneurial work ethic, armed with the technology tools and support can adapt most quickly…. yet they don’t have the capacity or capability to do this on their own without a significant capital investment. Our solution is to do this in a shared services model through our N4one HR and Benefits organization, which is an organic broker consortium that will grow and be directed by its’ members. This isn’t merely a technology buying group or scaled product procurement Broker Association. It is a business transformation company.

We are looking for just a few brokers per geographic area to bring a new model to market. Collectively, with a unique value proposition, professional marketing, and educated and armed professionals on the front lines, we can do something great for employers and their employees. However, it requires some clean thinking and a willingness to change. If interested give us a call at 508-498-7591.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, Health Care, HR and Benefits Technology

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Sun Life Buys Maxwell Health – So What?

Posted on June 5, 2018 | Leave a comment

Today it was announced that Sun Life acquired Maxwell Health. The first thing I asked was why? I don’t see the benefit to an employer or their employees. I see no benefit to the broker distributors. In fact, I hardly see a benefit to Sun Life. I can see the benefits to Maxwell if they either needed cash or their investors wanted out. I don’t really need to speculate around that here, but I am sure someone will tell me I am wrong. Someone please tell me why this is a good or even “relevant to the market” transaction. I will print it if the reason is sound.

If I am an employer, why would I want a technology solution coming from a single vendor? Technology to manage benefits, HR, and payroll should be owned by the employer, with no attachments. It should be something you invest in to make better every day. It should be engaging and provide employees with all the relevant company information that they need. In a survey I had done, the number one thing employees wanted to see via web or mobile in an employer sponsored HR system was how many vacation days they have left. Most employee benefits technology systems don’t track time off and those that do are bad at it.

As a broker, one would think you would want to represent the employer’s interests. You would want to have more options than representing a single vendor. And why would I need a carrier to bring me a technology solution as I could easily pick up the phone and find ten systems in one hour? Providing choice in health insurance, disability, and other benefits is an asset and the core to being an insurance broker versus an agent for a single company.
Other carriers are already out there providing a broad range of technology solutions. Many are providing discounts. This move by Sun Life could create a competitive advantage, to everyone other than Sun. In my business I could bring a dozen benefits enrollment systems, HR, and payroll to any employer, all with carrier subsidies available from many carriers. I have choice for technology. Choice of carriers. And subsidies for the employer if needed. It is easy to do, and I would add not a real differentiator.

Now if Maxwell develops something real special then maybe there could be something there. However, as I have learned from being in the technology business for years, technology is easily replicated. As the saying goes, “You can’t win or stop a technology war”. So, Sun Life better have a real lot of money to continue to fight the battles of this very active HR/Benefits/Payroll technology war that is going on. I would expect investments of over $100 million per year in their technology would be required simply to compete.

So, my assessment of this transaction is, So What? It is just more noise in a very noisy market that in my opinion doesn’t change the world a bit. (Other than for some employees or investors in Maxwell.)

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, HR and Benefits Technology

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Redefining Employee Benefits

Posted on September 27, 2017 | 1 comment

When it comes to the benefits brokering business you get people or companies labeling themselves in many different ways. When I started in the business the common title was a Group Insurance Broker. Some added the label “Consultant”. Over time the term changed to Employee Benefits Advisor or Employee Benefits Consultant. I guess in the end you can call yourself whatever you want but the market really doesn’t care. What an employee values as a “Benefit” to working at some employer is something that is personal to that individual. The consumer or customer, or in this case an employee, will determine for themselves what is a benefit and what is not. Even the employer may be offering “benefits” that their employees don’t value much as a benefit to working there.

I think we are in the middle of a redefinition of what Employee Benefits is. A 23-year-old entering the workforce with a ton of college debt more than likely does not view a health insurance plan with a $3000 deductible as much of a benefit. Most don’t see themselves incurring claims over $3000, and if they did, they don’t have the $3000 in the bank to pay the deductible. My son is that 23-year-old and that is what he and his friends told me when I asked them. Granted, this is not a large sample size.

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, who has implemented some of the most progressive employee benefits programs for their employees says, their goal is to help employees be “happy, healthy, and economically viable”. Not a bad objective, and I would assume this would help their employees be more productive. I think most people strive to be happy, or at least happier, so helping people be a little happier is a worthy goal.

When a 25-year-old single mother with no money in the bank has her refrigerator break down that is a bad day. When a 40-year-old has their spouse ask for a divorce unexpectedly that is a bad day too. And when your 87-year-old father has dementia and needs to be put in a nursing facility that is a bad day for you and your 89-year-old mother who is slowly losing her partner. These bad days suck the happiness out of most people and this almost always leads to lost productivity at work, at home, or almost at any endeavor. It is hard to stay focused when something else consumes you.

This emerging market demand to help people through their workplace has resulted in a significant amount of capital being invested in new companies providing products and services to fill the need. These solutions include wellness, nutrition and smoking cessation programs, financial fitness, college loan payment support, employee loan programs, help with bad credit, and more. At Aetna, they promote yoga and pay employees to sleep more in additional to many other programs. Aetna claims that these programs have saved them millions of dollars through improved employee productivity and a reduction in sick days. This is certainly a different employee benefits world.

For employers, the idea of providing a benefit to employees should be a good thing. Who doesn’t want healthy, happy, financially viable, and productive employees? For many though, the number one employee benefit, health insurance, has become a necessary evil that still leaves employees with a financial burden. And what employer wants to come to work and worry about managing the health claims of their employees to keep down costs and maintain profitability? You would think they already have enough to do running whatever business they are in. In addition, they are essentially delivering “bad news” once per year when they raise employee contributions. This change has made health insurance much less of a benefit. And many people believe that it is rising health care costs that is holding back salary increases. So, indirectly, employees are really paying for the health insurance through lower incomes.

As these “new benefits” enter the market there are challenges. Employers aren’t sitting there with the budgets to provide all these solutions. HR departments, that are already strapped for time, don’t have the capacity to evaluate, purchase, communicate, and administer such programs. And many programs only address a subset of a population. A 48-year-old overweight diabetic has different needs than a 23-year-old triathlete with no money who just crashed his car. Meeting the needs of a broad employee population is not easy. While today these may be new ideas, there may be a day in the near future when this will be an expectation of employers.

Helping employers meet the needs of this changing market is an opportunity that can also be exciting. The idea of helping someone have a “better day” because you provide an outlet for an individual that has some immediate need, can be rewarding. But, as stated above, this is not easy. As the definition of employee benefits is redefined, it may also redefine what people call themselves who serve this market. It may start separating the traditional Group Insurance Broker/Consultant from those providing redefined Employee Benefits Consulting. Those lines are blurry today. They may not be in the near future.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, Employer HR, HR and Benefits Technology

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The Zenefits/OneDigital Partnership – It’s Magic

Posted on September 21, 2017 | Leave a comment

You may have seen the news about the Zenefits/OneDigital deal and the how Zenefits will now start working with brokers. This news reminds me of a magician performing a magic trick. They get you to focus on one hand while the other is where most of the action is happening. With this new partnership, most brokers are probably focusing on this competitor named Zenefits. The real story however is about the competitor named OneDigital.

The details of this relationship and how Zenefits may partner with other brokers has yet to come out. Let me speculate here. First, I would assume the OneDigital deal with Zenefits is similar to what OneDigital has done with other brokers in their small group outsourcing business. OneDigital gets 50% – 60% of the commissions to manage the business and the other broker gets 40% – 50%, or something like that. Without some significant share of the commission being retained by Zenefits this deal would not have happened. If Zenefits was giving away free software then they certainly can’t give away all the revenue and still employ all their people.

I would assume that any broker that wants to have a relationship with Zenefits will have to provide what OneDigital is doing. Handle all the service for 60% of the revenue. Or if they want to sell Zenefits technology, I would imagine the fees would need to be closer to what the market is.

The thing about OneDigital is they built a business based on leveraging technology in the most optimum way to drive down costs and provide better service. Brokers tell me all the time they can’t make money on small group for 100% of the commission yet OneDigital does it with only 60% of the revenue. How can that be?

The idea of combining HR/Benefits/Payroll technology with services is something we have been touting for years now. In fact, a shift in our business was made because of the need to provide the united services around the technology. Even Namely recently announced they are moving from a software as a service model to software with services model. These services include benefits brokering along with benefits administration and of course, HR and payroll.

The one-stop-shop for everything HR is an attractive value proposition for employers. Mike Sullivan, One Digital’s Chief Growth Officer stated in today’s Employee Benefit Advisors article that, “In a very client-centric way, the alignment of these two platforms makes sense for small businesses.” Indeed, it does.

This is not OneDigital’s first play in this space. It was less than two years ago when they announced their investment in GoCo. The title of the press release said, “GoCo Takes Zenefits Head on with Digital Insurance Partnership and Investment”. You can see that press release here. Even today Mike Sullivan is still listed on the GoCo website as a Board Member. I don’t know where this leaves that relationship.

What will come out in the coming days or weeks is how Zenefits plans to partner with other brokers. I wonder if and how the insurance commission is going to be leveraged to deliver this joint offering. Somehow, I don’t think this strategy of benefits commissions subsidizing HR technology game is over. Firms like Gusto and Namely are still combining benefits brokering with HR/Payroll technology and services. And we all know that other brokers are subsidizing systems across the country to get new business. As I have stated in the past, the idea of giving away free technology to get a broker of record started at least a dozen years before Zenefits was even founded.

Personally, I don’t think Zenefits has anything special, but OneDigital does. So, while most brokers are paying attention to what they perceive as the fall of Zenefits, I think the competitor to look out for is OneDigital. They will be knocking on your client’s door.

Note: This article is wildly speculative, but it is my blog. As more information comes out I will write again.

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Posted in Agency Operations, HR and Benefits Technology, Uncategorized, Zenefits

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What is the Speed of Your Benefits Business

Posted on July 31, 2017 | 1 comment

I often wonder why the benefits world is so slow to advance new ideas and new technology. I have been in the business for over 30 years yet have seen very little evolution relative to other industries. In my personal life, almost everything has evolved. The way I do my banking, communicate with friends and businesses associates, book an airline ticket, turn lights on and off in my home, pay at Starbucks, or get around a city, have all changed. Things are easier. Yet, for the most part, the benefits business is almost still the same as it was when I got in the business in 1986. Up to this point lack of change has not significantly impacted those in the business. I think that is about to change.

I started my career in finance at General Electric where the CEO, Jack Welch, was good at putting things in perspective. One quote has stuck with me and that is as follows:

“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, then the end is near.”                                  Jack Welch

Since I have been running a business I have heeded that advice. We try hard to change with the times and it isn’t always easy. I would say it is never easy. But we haven’t sat still.

With all the attention to health care and health insurance in the U.S. I have spent a great deal of time researching the market so that I can make an educated guess as to where the market is headed. What I have seen is that the outside world, (outside of the current benefits market including carriers, brokers, TPA’s etc..) is moving much faster than the inside world. If you only looked on the inside; at broker and carrier conferences; read benefits magazines or blogs; or listen to one’s buddy in the business; you would miss what is going on outside. The outsiders don’t care about the insiders. Unlike the past 30 years, new technologies, new business models, significant capital, a populace looking for better solutions, and government debt that is unsustainable, are the catalysts for change that exist today and not at any time in the past. Things are different.

A changing health care market is right under everyone’s nose yet many don’t see it. The Apple Watch, an Amazon Echo, Bitcoin and Blockchain technology, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning (highlighted on 60 minutes) all can be the foundation for huge changes. Never mind simple things like video conferencing, online chat and text messaging, and bots.

A few years ago, some benefits organizations started pushing Private Exchanges as some new idea. I wasn’t buying it. I sold similar plans in 1987. Many think they are offering some game changing idea, but most are simply different packaging of the same thing.

In the benefits business, small brokers may not have the capital to make the changes needed to keep up with the outside world. Many larger firms appear to be building moats around their businesses hoping the outside world won’t touch them. And as the old saying goes, it takes a long time for a big ship to change its course. The outsiders will just go around or over the moat anyway.
One doesn’t need to invent everything to have a sustainable business in a changing market. You may be able leverage the tools or resources invented by others to compete effectively. But all this change is not easy. Yet we all know that “Hope” is not a strategy.

So, look around and not just at your competitors or at some broker conference. When your Apple watch gives you your pulse. When you talk to your Amazon Echo. When you video chat with your son or daughter. When you turn on the air conditioning in your house from work. Wonder why this isn’t happening regularly in the benefits business. Is the outside moving faster than your inside? If so, well hoping Jack Welch is wrong is probably not a good strategy.

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Posted in Agency Operations, Employee Benefits Distribution, HR and Benefits Technology

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“Alexa – What is my deductible?”

Posted on January 22, 2017 | Leave a comment

When it comes to adoption of technology simple is most often better than complex. Steve Jobs and Apple went to great lengths to make their products simple. Without user adoption products fail. Current technology trends continue the move towards simplicity with the advent of artificial intelligence and personal assistant tools like Amazon’s Echo and the Google Home. Before you know it, these tools will enter the benefits world. The question is, who is going to be first and best? And if I am a benefits broker how does this impact my business?

While many brokers are aware of the vendors that call on them or have tradeshow booths at industry conferences, I believe the benefits technology race is going to heat up with new competition entering the market. These new competitors see the market opportunity to automate large segments of our economy including health insurance and health care. You may have heard of some of these companies like Microsoft, Google, Salesforce.com, and Apple. This would be in addition to current leaders such as ADP and Paychex. The stakes of the game will change and the price of entry, from an investment standpoint, is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Those with the capital will quickly outpace those with less capital.

Don’t be surprised when you start to see major mergers and acquisitions in the HR and Benefits space. Could Microsoft buy Ultimate Software? Why not? They already purchased LinkedIn and recently hinted at getting deeper into the HR space.

When I look at products like the Amazon Echo and Google Home I see products that have very quickly grabbed market share with high rates of adoption. My wife, who is not an early adopter of technology, quickly became a user of Google Home. Why? Because it is easy. Would she have a better understanding of her health insurance if she could simply ask Google? Absolutely!

Benefits technology, on the other hand, has not had broad adoption by employees. Yes, employers have bought systems or brokers have given them away, but when you look at utilization on the employee side it is abysmal. I believe the reason for this is because there is not enough value as a stand-alone solution to generate broad adoption. Keep in mind that the majority of people hardly use their health care in a given year so there is little need to access such a system. I don’t know about you but I can hardly remember the login to my computer never mind something I may not use for 6 months.

The next generation of technology in the HR and Benefits area is going to have broader and “everyday” value, while being much easier to use. Market leading vendors, especially those with a great deal of capital, will invest in the latest technologies to try and win the technology race and gain more customers. And before you know it you will be saying the following:

“Alexa, is Dr. John Smith from Boston in the Blue Cross network?”

“Ok Google, request Friday off from work?”

“Hey Siri, how much does the average office visit cost?”

“Alexa, what is the balance of my 401k?”

“Ok Google, transfer $500 from my savings to checking?”

The advancement of technology and artificial intelligence has enabled many to have more personalized user experiences. Your Amazon Echo will “get to know you”. Maybe in the near future your doctor will get to know you a little better too.

Many benefits brokers have chosen some technology vendor with a mission of putting as many clients on the system as possible. This is a risky position competitively as more advanced solutions from highly capitalized companies come along. I don’t know many sales people or business owners in any industry who like running around with the 8th best product. Even more so when it is not necessary. The market and your customers do not care if you have invested thousands of dollars on some technology that may quickly fall out of favor.

One should take the advice of Jack Welch, ex- CEO of General Electric who once said,

“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”

For those that have purchased the Amazon Echo or Google Home you don’t have to look far to see that the outside world is changing faster than the inside. The health insurance and health care industries often feel like they are moving at a snail’s pace. Private Exchanges were lauded as change when they really are a reincarnation of cafeteria plans from the 80’s.

With the Trump administration, changes in health insurance legislation may create a shift that empowers the consumer. The industry may need an army of people on the front lines to help the industry move to a whole new paradigm. The vendors will need help and the employers and employees will need it too. The technology is there. Alexa is ready. Are you?

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