Carriers have become savvier about how to portray their earnings.

Whether the shortage is a result of the increased access to health care mandated by PPACA and whether there is a shortage in the first place remains up for debate.

As the 2015 benefits enrollment season approaches and employers gear up for their second year of coverage mandates, as outlined in PPACA, it seems some employers still offer non-compliant health plans.

Critics of the fee-for-service model of paying providers argue fee-for-service payments force providers to increase the volume of procedures or visits in a day, and as a result, the value each patient receives is diluted.

Insurers, from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to commercial payers, have had to define and measure quality and value in health care.

No one seems to agree how to define or measure value-based health care, but its the next big industry trend - and no one denies its here to stay.

The tagline for Combs & Co. the brokerage firm Susan L. Combs started nine years ago, when she was just 26 is If you dont know insurance, know your broker.

One variation of a self-funded insurance plan, a multiple-employer welfare arrangement, is a potential solution for employers whod prefer to seek options outside of the government-run health insurance exchanges.