Return to strategy

“Since 2012 and the passage of the ACA, much of the employeebenefits industry has been preoccupied with complaining, confusionand compliance. These three 'Cs' have contributedlittle to improving the employee benefit landscape for employers,employees, or their consultant partners. For 2017 we should resolveto have more substantive conversations about benefits strategy.

These conversations should start with analyzing the currentplan's performance with real data that can be meaningfully appliedto legitimate benchmarks. This analysis must be thoughtfullydesigned to help decision makers decide to pursue initiatives thatwill make a real difference in the health of their plan and thehappiness of their employees. And finally, these initiatives mustbe integrated into a comprehensive benefit delivery plan thatcreates measurable outcomes in the areas of efficientadministration and effective engagement.

Eric Helman, chief strategy officer, Hodges-Mace

Retirement advice

“As we enter into 2017, employers and employees will face newchallenges in the retirement industry as the former will be forcedto navigate changes necessary to their 401(k) offering brought onby the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule, and asthe latter continues to struggle with a shortfall in retirementsavings. My New Year's resolution is to continue to ensure thatemployers and employees alike know what their options are when itcomes to 401(k) plans, and that by leveraging technology, companiescan offer unconflicted advice and help employees better prepare forretirement.”

Cynthia Loh, general manager, Betterment forBusiness

Simplify, simplify

Looking ahead to 2017, it is important that we as an industryshift our central focus back to the individual employee or consumer. Despite efforts to the contrary,surveys continue to show that benefits are increasingly complicatedand confusing for consumers. We should consider ways to simplifyaccess and make benefits more understandable, including providingemployees with tools and resources to become better healthcareconsumers.

Prioritizing the expansion of value-based benefit plans is a keypart of this to drive people to quality, cost-effective care, aswell as developing innovative ways to engage employees andencourage a culture of wellness and overall well-being. Theseefforts benefit clients as well as their employees and can help ushone in on true ROI and VOI.

However, 2017 should also be the year we re-emphasize personalsupport. Existing and emerging technology continues to offer ourindustry so many advantages, but it can't replace the value of'people' when helping clients' employees navigate the complexitiesof healthcare.”

Abbie Leibowitz, M.D., F.A.A.P., chief medical officer,founder and president emeritus, Health Advocate

A benefits renaissance

“2016 was certainly a year of opportunities and challenges, butas we enter 2017 I have some industry resolutions I would like toshare. We are in an insurance renaissance of sorts; this industrywill continue to experience new growth and activity for many yearsto come. I will personally continue being a student of theindustry, and work to increase my thought leadership and knowledge.I pledge to continue to push our industry to new heights.

2017 is going to bring many new opportunities (i.e. potentialchanges to ACA) to educate consumers and business owners.The opportunity to make informed decisions about health care hasnever been better, and available tools and resources for theindustry are only going to improve. Alternative funding mechanisms(self-funding, captives), transparency tools, big data and theability to bring consulting services should be top of mind forevery industry professional.

Brokers and consultants should push themselves to keepimproving. Getting out of our comfort zones will be paramount togrowth, development and prosperity. Getting involved in industrygroups and being more active should also be top of mind. Sit on acommittee, mentor new agents, further develop in a best practicegroup, whether it be NAHU, Assurex, BAN, UBA, Prosential orsomewhere else.”

Chad Schneider, chief salesofficer, Code SixFour

Educational efforts

“Sy Syms, founder of retail chain Syms Corporation, famouslysaid that 'an educated consumer is our best customer.' This adageapplies beyond the retail world and is particularly pertinent toour current health care system, which increasingly requiresindividuals to act as consumers.

As the health care landscape continues to change with thepolitical, regulatory and economic tides, it's more important thanever that individuals get smart about what they're buying — fromthe basics of how insurance works and how to use it wisely, to howto be a true consumer (how to tell quality, how to comparison shopand how to determine the 'best fit'). Employers need to do theirpart by developing a benefits communications strategy encompassingyear-round communications, broad and tailored messaging andtargeted support while meeting compliance requirements.”

Kim Buckey, vice president of client services,DirectPath

Wellness barriers

“In 2017, I hope employer staff responsible for employee benefitplans will take a more holistic view of employee total well-being when assessing stakeholder needs,building the business case for leaders' support, designing strategyand applying investments, and communicating and promoting availableand new programs and resources. In addition to top-down evaluationsas summarized in colorful dashboards, risk assessment scores, andthe like, ideally employers will also solicit employee feedback andinput. This bottom-up effort should seek to surface the barriers toemployee understanding, motivation and capability in improvingtheir well-being — whether their physical, financial, emotional orsocial health — so that solutions can 'meet employees where theyare' and in turn, better drive desired behaviors and outcomes.”

Ruth Hunt, principal, Xerox HR Services