The Advisor of Tomorrow presentation at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo specifically addresses the flaws and challenges surrounding the broker distribution model and the financing of health care through insurance. We will discuss the faulty business models and misaligned incentives that presently serve as the foundation of the U.S. health care system.

The industry is littered with trendy buzzwords and failed "silver bullets" like consumer-driven health plans, integrated results-based wellness, benefits administration and the health care supply chain. Brokers have a long history of approaching employer clients pitching the next big thing that will bring improved efficiency and reduced costs within employee benefits, yet the data tells a different story.

At the end of 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced U.S. health care spending accounted for 17.9 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), while the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the U.S. 37th in health system performance. In many ways, the best performing segment of the U.S. health care system are the share prices of the companies surrounding it, something that has not gone unnoticed by non-traditional competitors like Amazon.

➤➤ Be sure to attend Mick Rodgers and Bob Gearhart Jr.'s Motivational Track session, "The Advisor of Tomorrow" April 2 at 3:00 p.m. at the 2019 BenefitsPRO Broker Expo.

By and large, brokers distribute a product that is designed by someone else; have little to no influence or control over the pricing; and are primarily paid by someone who is not their client.

Baron Rothschild,18th century British nobleman and member of the Rothchild banking family, famously said, "The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets."

The almost quarterly health care mega-merger announcements and the growth-through-acquisition trend in the brokerage space would suggest the proverbial blood is in the streets.

Early indications such as increased acquisition activity would suggest that rather than fundamentally changing their business models to adapt to the new landscape and competitors, carriers and brokers are trying to become "too big to fail." The problem is that most brokers will never have the resources necessary to scale at the rate of their larger competitors, which leads many to pursue an exit while the multiples are high.

Insurance carriers have simultaneously indicated through the reduction or elimination of broker commissions that their confidence in the broker distribution channel as a value-add moving forward is wavering.

It remains to be seen if non-traditional competitors like Amazon will even use a broker distribution channel when they enter the market. How long will insurance carriers bear the cost of broker distribution if a non-traditional competitor can go to market without that cost?

While there's "blood in the streets," brokers who do desire to remain independent are flooded with products, people, and programs that all promise some form of fix or relief. Every producer and every firm are different, but as with most things in life, becoming an advisor of tomorrow is not a superficial or quick fix.

At the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo, Mick Rodgers and I will share our vision on what makes a successful advisor of tomorrow. Spoiler alert: It doesn't have to do with trendy buzzwords or engaging a new buyer within the organization. Advisors who survive the coming waves of change will have to advance their business model and processes to develop proprietary deliverables that center exclusively on driving value to employers and their employees.

The advisor of tomorrow must evolve, because they won't be competing with another national firm, an up and coming regional, or even a scrappy independent firm. They will be competing in a landscape where disruption isn't a buzzword to be tossed about at conferences, but a core piece of the competition's DNA.

Can't wait? Read up on the evolving broker landscape:

Instant Insights /

Expo preview: The advisor of tomorrow

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