These days, the world often seems like a pretty small place. Thanks to the relative ease of international travel, real-time communication and the all-seeing eye of Google Earth, it sometimes feels like there isn't a lot of mystery left.
But it wasn't long ago that the planet was much larger and more mysterious. A few centuries back, travelers and explorers setting off on a voyage were faced with an array of obstacles and dangers—everything from pirates and bandits to weather and disease.
Perhaps most unnerving of all, though, was the unknown. Maps included huge swaths of ocean and coastline labeled terra incognita. The edges of charts often featured sea serpents and bizarre animals that appeared capable of swallowing a ship whole, while tales of blood-thirsty cannibals and native peoples with heads in the middle of their chests abounded.
Generations later, as Lewis and Clark prepared for their 1804 expedition, Thomas Jefferson still believed the explorers would encounter mountains of salt, a race of Welsh-speaking Indians and herds of wooly mammoths and giant ground sloths.
In the present day, where we can access a seemingly infinite amount of information in seconds, it's easy to become overconfident, to forget about the dangers—both real and imagined—of the unknown.
But for a while now, the unknown has been impossible to ignore in our industry. The ACA left many brokers and employers scrambling to find their way in a shadowy hinterland of rumor, fables and bogeymen.
Is it any wonder, then, that so many benefits professionals are enthusiastically welcoming the Trump administration's promises to repeal and replace? Surely, removing the source of so much fear and frustration can only be a good thing, right?
Maybe. But as Kevin Trokey notes on page 40, there is still cause for concern for many agencies in a post-ACA world. “Too many people see [the ACA] as the only threat to the survival of their agency,” he writes. “As flawed as it is, the ACA was never your biggest threat; it simply exposed our industry's most fundamental vulnerabilities. It exposed the vulnerability of your agency being dependent on someone else's product; of your agency allowing a third party to determine your value based on their commission schedule.”
Be sure to read his thoughts on the keys to success in the coming years, as well as the other expert opinions in this issue on health care costs and the future of the industry. Something tells me that as we head into the uncharted territory of 2017 and beyond, there will be no shortage of pitfalls and obstacles to contend with. Knowledge and courage will be key to mapping the unknown. Some things never change.
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Paul Wilson
Paul Wilson is the editor-in-chief of BenefitsPRO Magazine and BenefitsPRO.com. He has covered the insurance industry for more than a decade, including stints at Retirement Advisor Magazine and ProducersWeb.
