Broker blog

Are you struggling to offer fun ideas to keep your clients (and their members) engaged? As a former HR Director, I remember the challenge well. Even with great benefits, helping employees understand how they work and the best way to use them is like getting someone to use their gym membership…or is that just me?  

Health Insurance giant Cigna announced on Thursday that it has agreed to buy Express Scripts, the nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM). This is yet another blockbuster deal that continues to shake the healthcare landscape. 

Twenty years ago, I joined the National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU). A year later I traveled to Washington D.C. for the first time to attend their annual "Capitol Conference."

How do you handle soaring Rx costs for your clients? Pharmacy costs are driving up health plan pricetags, while fewer drugs are covered each year. This means employees are taking a huge hit in out of pocket expenses for their meds. It's a lose-lose for employers and employees.

Today, I'm sharing 3 trends that show your clients need another prescription strategy outside of the health plan.

How have you stayed competitive through all of the shifts we've experienced in healthcare? As brokers, you've had to provide more for your clients, while commissions took a dip. 

Unless you’ve been under a rock the past few days, you’ve heard that Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase announced a collaboration to do something about healthcare for their employees. While the announcement highlighted goals of transparency, tech innovation, and forsaken profits – it didn’t include details of how these goals would be achieved. So, what are we supposed to think?

I'm still digesting all of the learnings from the Q4Live Conference in Tampa (writing this article helps a LOT). 

What a great group of consultants, speakers - and no one expected a pirate attack.  Actually, it was the Gasparilla Pirate festival outside our hotel. OR maybe it was a group of panicky brokers who didn't want to lose any more clients to the expert advisors collected at the La Meridian Hotel. 

The conference was packed with insight that I've boiled down to a list of my 4 big takeaways….  

Have you ever returned from a conference with literally dozens of "must do" strategies in your brain? I just attended the 2018 ASCEND Agency Growth & Leadership Summit in Music City, Tennessee. A tremendous amount of talent was in the room and tools and strategies were shared to help agencies grow to the next level. 

I'm sharing 5 of my favorite overall learnings. Believe me, it wasn't easy to narrow the list!