2019 Broker of the Year finalist: Doug Hetherington

Had Doug Hetherington loved resort management, Noel Gill might not have the health insurance plan that is making his employees healthier and giving him a competitive edge.

Today, Hetherington works tirelessly to customize insurance plans that meet not only the needs, but the aspirations of his clients. He will take them where no benefits advisor has gone before—as long as they are willing to break from the pack.

“I’m not there to take over their fully insured program,” he says. “If you want me as your fully insured broker, you will hate me. My role is to educate my clients as an advisor.”

That is exactly what Hetherington did for Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp. (NWRECC). Executive director Noel Gill chuckles while describing Hetherington as the nonprofit’s broker.

“We use the term ‘broker,’ but I have to be honest; he is a solutions specialist. He was the educator and supporter behind where I wanted to go,” Gill says.

➤➤ Join us for the official Broker of the Year announcement and a discussion panel, April 3 at 10:15 a.m. at the 2019 BenefitsPRO Broker Expo.

Hetherington grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho, and had aspirations of managing the resort at Sun Valley. He landed a job there after college, but his dream didn’t jive with reality.

“The job was very cyclical, and most of the workforce was migratory. Just about the time you got them trained, they left. I finally realized I was just a glorified babysitter. That was not the career I wanted.”

Hetherington chose another path, the same one his mother had taken years before: as a benefits broker. “I was being groomed to take over the benefits division at her firm,” he says. Unfortunately, the clients were not always inclined toward innovation. So he quit.

He spent six years with Leavitt Group, where his innovative ideas began to take shape. Ironically, the recession spurred client interest in alternatives to the annual renewal rate gasp-and-swallow-it approach to health insurance.

Leavitt encouraged Hetherington to educate himself on emerging models, and he kept coming back to captive groups and reference-based pricing models. What evolved was a reference-based pricing captive model.

”I’m extremely proud of that. It has succeeded well beyond my expectations. I’m thrilled with the results it’s been getting for clients,” he says.

So is Gill, who runs an affordable-housing nonprofit that acquires and manages properties throughout the West. He recalls a wholly owned subsidiary in Montana that was struggling a few year ago.

“The Montana unit lost their insurance because they got priced out of the market. They were looking at premiums of $1,000 per month. They just could not afford to take on that burden.”

Since NWRECC signed on in 2017 for Hetherington’s captive group plan, they’ve seen deductibles plummet from $3,500 to $2,000 in 2019 and $1,500 proposed for 2020. Meanwhile, premiums have remained unchanged. More importantly, Gill was able to add more preventative features to encourage his employees to access primary care and be proactive about their health.

Hetherington says that much of the success of such plans depends on making a match with an employer who is willing to be a health plan pioneer. Once he has a client “all in,” he keeps pushing them to look for more ways to lower cost and improve outcomes.

“If it makes sense for their organization, I will continue to educate them during our relationship. They can always say, ‘OK I tried it your way, but I think I’ll go back to fully insured.’ But no one has switched back yet.”

What’s next for Hetherington? After four years with Boise-based Echelon Group, he’s ready to launch his own venture, Health 2 Business. The concept is to teach other brokers to be innovators, problem solvers and leaders.

“I’m identifying brokers who want to solve the problem. We want to shift them into a distinct role as teachers within the broker community.”

That’s quintessential Hetherington, aspiring to a larger role. A good thing for this industry that he decided to come down off that mountain.