Everything old is new again: Throw it back to personal & affordable health care
The ongoing balancing act between past, present and future is one of the key challenges facing benefits professionals these days.
Have you noticed how if you keep certain clothes long enough, they’ll usually come back into fashion? When I was in high school during the ‘90s, we often balanced our flannel shirts, torn jeans and Doc Martens with a smattering of hippie-influenced styles from the ‘60s. And during a recent trip to the mall, my wife and I both noticed that the display windows were filled with outfits that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the pages of one of our old yearbooks. The more things change…
Although Americans pride themselves on being forward thinkers and innovators, if you dig a little deeper on most “new” ideas, you can usually find something very familiar just under the surface. And the same is true when it comes to our industry. Many of the groundbreaking concepts being championed by advisors who are currently transforming the face of American health care are actually throwbacks to an earlier age when health care was both more personal and more affordable.
A growing number of benefits advisors across the country are returning to those roots, working with local employers, providers and others to create programs within their communities (and beyond) that are focused on simple concepts like direct contracting, primary care and increased patient engagement. This month’s feature, “A Value-Based Approach,” (page 18) takes a closer look at this trend and offers some key takeaways for anyone interested in this renaissance.
The ongoing balancing act between past, present and future is one of the key challenges facing benefits professionals these days. Another key challenge? Maintaining personal, human relationships while also taking full advantage of the ever-changing technological tools and mountains of priceless data that are a growing part of our current reality.
The ability to perfectly combine all of these ingredients is one of the many keys to success for Nancy Giacolone, our 2023 Broker of the Year (page 12). While it might sound overwhelming, Giacolone attributes her success to staying true to her values and advocating for the needs of her clients.
Related: 2023 Broker of the Year finalist: Nancy Giacolone
“I want to be somebody who stood up for people and did the right thing,” she says. “That often involves respectfully calling out situations that aren’t right, whether it’s with an insurance company or with a competitor … Everybody is different, and you have to meet clients and employees where they are. When you do the right thing, the rewards follow. It’s just that simple.”