Although it sometimes seems inevitable that health care costs will steadily rise and brokers and consultants will be forced to continue delivering a never-ending litany of "less bad" news to employers, the solutions for solving these issues are actually already in place, Trokey said. And for the next three days, attendees received a detailed crash course in many of those solutions, including transparent medical markets, value-based care, and advisors tying their compensation to improved results. The discussions were led by a series of speakers who are driving a charge to change the status quo. Here are a few of the highlights:

Tony Moore

Tony Moore, a self-described speaker, trainer, culture architect and "recovering Human Resource executive" told attendees about the importance of leading their organizations during tough times. "Leadership and discomfort are inseparable," he said. "If you're not uncomfortable, you're not leading."

But in the current environment of rapid change, the methods most of us learned to become leaders are no longer viable. "The days of the superhero leader are gone," he explained. "There's no way any one person can play that role these days. Things have become too complex; there has been too much change. To be successful, we have to accept that what got us here won't get us where we want to go."

So, what will?

To become a leader in your practice, you must create a culture of collaborative, interdependent leadership teams. It's no longer "follow me." It's "follow us," Moore said.

And avoiding a mindset mired in "the way things have always been done" is more vital than ever, Moore added. When an industry changes, those who want to survive must adapt alongside it. In 1890, there were still 13,000 businesses supporting the horse and carriage industry, even though automobiles were just over the horizon, he said.

"The last buggy whip creator was probably the best," Moore said with a laugh. "But who cares?"

Dave Chase

"As advisors, you stand between the American Dream continuing to be stolen, or not," Dave Chase told attendees. Chase, who will also be speaking at the 2018 BenefitsPRO Broker Expo in San Diego, is the creator of the Health Rosetta, and the author of "The CEO's Guide to Restoring the American Dream." In his TEDx Talk, "Health Care Stole The American Dream," he sums up health care's devastation of the middle class and the redemption coming via a grassroots movement, including many in the benefits world, a topic that he discussed at length with those in attendance.

After running through a list of statistics detailing the grim state of American health care, Chase warned that "unless we change the trajectory we're on, things will get worse." But after the gloomy intro, he added, "This is fixable."

Stressing local, open, decentralized methods that "restore humanity to health care," Chase ran through a variety of strategies that advisors, providers and others can use to begin to turn the ship. "Most of us have never experienced a high functioning primary care system," he noted.  

After years of closely watching health care reform and hoping for solutions (or at least relief), "we have to look in the mirror and realize the cavalry is not coming from D.C. We've had people from both sides of the aisle take turns trying to fix it and nothing has happened. Eighty percent of politicians are preservatives," he added, "there to preserve the status quo. It's on us to fix it."

Related: Dave Chase on how AI will change the employee benefits industry

As homework, attendees were asked to read Chase's book, which provides a clear and optimistic blueprint for how various players in benefits and health care can help create change.

"There's no act of Congress needed to do these things," Chase said. "We have a 'get on the bus' philosophy. We know where we're headed and we invite anybody to get on with us. There might be some flat tires along the way, but it's going to be a hell of a fun ride."

Jeff Bernhard

"I don't think we got in this mess because of any one company or any single part of the health care chain," said Jeff Bernhard, president of Continental Benefits. "But we all have an obligation to fix it. The question we all have to ask is, if not us, then who? Our children and grandchildren are going to inherit this mess, so we have to be the pioneers to make change happen."

Bernard told attendees that things are heading in the wrong direction and those in the industry need to turn it around. "My whole career right now is focused on breaking the status quo, and I hope the same is true for many of you," he said.

Bernhard emphasized the importance of getting people to the right care and service at the right time, comparing the current PPO system to a giant, never-ending buffet. "When we go to a buffet in Vegas, we treat the crab legs like they cost the same as the cucumber slices," Bernhard said. "We're so busy stuffing our faces that we have no idea what the cost is, and overlook the fact that it may be be better to order a la carte and pay better attention to what we're eating."

He added that if one wanted to go out tomorrow and buy a car, a large screen TV or any other piece of technology, they could go to Consumer Reports and find an objective rating, listing all the positives and negatives. "How the hell do you do that in health care?" he asked. "How do we objectively find out who the best hospital or surgeon is?

"Why is it that I can figure out who should start as the QB of my fantasy football team based on statistics, everything from completion percentage, to interceptions to what he did three years ago, but if I had to get hip surgery, I'd have no idea who has the lowest infection rates based on any objective data?"

Bernhard discussed several strategies to help people find better information around health care and create transparency around not just cost, but value. "How can consumers know the value of something if they don't know the quality and they don't know the cost? It's impossible."

So how do we fix it? Bernhard laid out a list of solutions, including accessing truly objective third-party data and implementing advocacy lines that help walk consumers through the process, and medical bill review. "I feel bad for consumers," Bernhard said. "We need to give people better advocates — someone to take them by the hand and lead them there. 

Look for part two soon, featuring insights from Adam Russo, Alex Lickerman and David Contorno.