Sorry for the late chat this morning, but I think I'm still fighting off this State of the Union hangover …
During which I couldn't help but notice featured only the slightest of nods to "fixing" health care reform. (What is it called, by the way, when we have to reform the reform?)
Congress has already taken a huge step in the other direction – as the president alluded to last night – by introducing a bill that would repeal a provision that requires small businesses to fill out 1099s for every $600 spent on "goods and services."
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President Obama's nod to malpractice reform (for lack of a better word) was equally encouraging, not to mention a much more concrete effort at bipartisanship than the congressional attempt at turning last night's speech into a Sadie Hawkins dance.
Overall, I think it's a more realistic – and productive – for lawmakers to fix what's wrong with the bill than to scrap it altogether, declaring it bankrupt and starting over. It's just not gonna happen, and it's offensive to me as a taxpayer to waste so much time and money on such a transparently political statement.
Besides, if this haphazard health care reform law has done anything, it's made employers more reliant than ever on their brokers. At least that's what we're hearing from the number crunchers over at Metlife, whose latest study shows 57 percent of employers with fewer than 500 workers and 48 percent of those with more than 500 say they will rely on their consultants, brokers and agents more than ever. So, while the legislation has probably made your life miserable, it's also made you more vital than ever to your clients.
I'm not sure anyone we saw on television last night can say the same.
And, hey, as you're becoming even more important to you clients, take some time to nominate your favorite colleague (or yourself) for Broker of the Year over at http://bit.ly/gJEOX5. Otherwise, I don't want to hear any whining about who gets crowned in Nashville at the Benefits Selling Expo.
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