Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

No one wants another year full of Client A cursing at them throughout every meeting or Client B always asking for more, more, more — and then complaining once they get the bill. These are the clients, say Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, authors of The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People, who starve a business of the energy it needs to grow and prosper. It’s time to do some winter pruning, they say, and cut off those bad branches.

Fueled by a story about waivers that could all but eliminate ACA coverage requirements for states and a blog stating what preceded the health reform law was worse, EBA readers debate the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act.

Despite the chance to impact daily decision making on critical healthcare, employee benefit and broker industry issues, many politically active advisers agree they are among just 10% of brokers who are involved in local and national politics. EBA presents leading brokers in each region of the country who are actively working to change the industry.

Zenefits made the list of the year’s most-read EBA stories twice, including a defamation lawsuit that ADP filed against the Silicon Valley startup. Other attention-grabbing articles included the Aetna-Humana merger, Cadillac tax repeal efforts, attempts to tweak the ACA and the elimination of broker commission. Here are the top 10 stories that garnered the most pageviews in 2015.

Plenty of big news impacted employee benefit brokers this year — including multiple mergers and carriers cutting commissions — which produced some of the most memorable responses from sources. Here are the top quotes of 2015.

The employee benefit market is in a state of reinvention, with virtually every stakeholder looking for ways to not only survive, but also thrive amid a sea of regulatory changes and healthcare developments continuously threatening to alter the landscape. Here are 10 benefit industry trendsetters who are helping to set the agenda for the new year.

A year’s worth of news related to employee benefits sparked plenty of discussion among EBA readers — with the Affordable Care Act and Zenefits evoking some of the sharpest criticism. Here are the top comments of the year.

Top broker and carrier rankings, as well as 30 benefit pros to follow on Twitter, bizarre antics from job candidates, the best 401(k) plans and the top SHOP plans in each state were the most-viewed EBA slideshows of the year. Here they are, listed in descending order.

The outlook for the new year is a mixed one, as brokers will continue to face “unneeded stress” and compliance challenges. Those issues, combined with changes to the healthcare delivery model, will make 2016 another landmark year for the industry, experts say.

Although approaching the process from different ends of the spectrum, brokers, employers and end consumers faced increased expectations for their respective roles in employee benefit plans this year. This, coupled with evolutions in technology, 401(k) and voluntary product design, made 2015 anything but static.