The Patient Protection and Affordable Care act is creating enormous opportunities for brokers to sell supplemental plans, not only to help cover increasing deductibles in employer-based and exchange-based plans, but also as a cheaper alternative to both.

The opportunities to sell supplemental health plans to cover out-of-pocket expenses when illness or accidents occur are coming from a variety of fronts, experts say. As more employers face mandates to provide major medical insurance to their employees, most will likely opt for plans with high deductibles to mitigate the additional costs — increasing the need for supplemental plans.

Some employers will transition full-time employees to part-time to avoid providing major medical insurance, and those employees will need supplemental plans because the exchange-based plans all carry high deductibles. Finally, there are opportunities for brokers to sell supplemental plans to people who choose not to buy exchange-based plans and self-insure instead. Supplemental plans will cover those people in worst-case scenarios.