Broker blog

Have you noticed the amount of new services in the benefits industry? To name a few: identity theft protection, telehealth, doctors online, advocacy, pet care insurance, savings networks, legal plans, cancer/critical illness/accident insurances, international medical and the list goes on.

While these can bring added complication to a sales or planning conversation, there’s a lot of opportunity to not only help your client, but also your paycheck.

Are you using LinkedIn to build your business? …sell a product or service? …get personal introductions from other connections? ...find a new job? …establish yourself as a thought leader?

“Piece of cake,” I thought when I was asked a few weeks ago to write an article in early October about the upcoming presidential election. I was confident that, one month before Election Day, we’d have a pretty good idea who our next president will be and how his or her proposals will affect the health insurance industry. Boy was I wrong.

I recently started doing crossword puzzles. They can be challenging and will exercise your mental muscle.  When evaluating the clues, you have to think outside the box as the answers are often not as obvious as you’d think. Many times you need to complete sections around the most difficult words so the letters help complete the picture. Completed words lead to other words. 

The need for telehealth is obvious these days. However, with more and more of the benefits budget being used up by the medical plan, many turn to voluntary offerings. A voluntary strategy allows the employee to purchase services they feel suit them best, and this is usually a good approach.

Are you trying to establish yourself as a “thought leader” on LinkedIn? Have you tried publishing content? In 2014, LinkedIn allowed only “big name influencers” to publish content until they opened up the option to all LinkedIn members.

For years, insurance experts have used LASIK surgery as proof that “consumerism” in health care can actually improve outcomes. Over the past couple decades of the popular eye surgery, quality has gone up while costs have gone down, and most experts attribute these results to the fact that Lasik isn’t covered by most insurance plans. With no third-party payer in the middle to distort the price or hide it from consumers, LASIK providers actually have to compete for business.

Benjamin Franklin said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” Almost 250 years later, Ben’s quote is truer than ever. What I mean is, your willingness and ability to keep changing is your market advantage. As I keep a close eye on the horizon for hints at where employee benefit trends are headed, I’ve been drawn to two recent pieces: