Practice management

Lou Faiola takes relationships to a new level. From carriers to brokers to beneficiaries, his commitment to benefits is apparent to all whose lives he touches.

It’s been 70 years since benefits originated, and brokers would be wise to remember that innovation as inspiration to keep their businesses in the future.

Join a powerful network of brokers, agents and advisers Dec. 10-12 in Chicago for Workplace Benefits Transitions.

The Obama administration says much of the site is fixed but it’s not clear still how much of that is true.

A staple component of every independent brokerage and agency for marketing and service, this element changed dramatically for most brokers in 2013

President Barack Obama raised the stakes on his three-year-old health care overhaul Sunday, declaring that fixes to his administration’s troubled insurance exchange website make it ready to sign up 800,000 people a day.

Towers Watson acquired Liazon Corporation, a leader in developing and delivering private benefit exchanges for active employees, last week. Representatives of the consultancy believe that this acquisition, which follows the purchase of Extend Health in June 2012, has solidified their position as the leading player in the private exchange market through its OneExchange solution.

The decision by CMS leaves just eight days for insurers to send bills to those signing up on the last day of the enrollment period.

Quandary emerges for brokers who trained on the systems but might not want the business.

Consulting firm Towers Watson announced today it has bought private health care exchange provider Liazon, which operates the Bright Choices exchange, for $215 million. The deal further validates the private exchange market, says one of Liazon's competitors.

Public support for the U.S. health care overhaul fell to its lowest level in a Kaiser Family Foundation survey after the Oct. 1 debut of government-run insurance marketplaces greeted consumers with breakdowns on websites, higher prices and potentially broken promises.

Kansas, North Dakota and other state insurance commissioners snubbed a meeting with President Barack Obama set up to discuss allowing some people to keep medical plans that don’t meet the requirements of the U.S. health law.

A public employer in California is building its own marketplace to mirror public exchanges under the Affordable Care Act — a potential idea for brokers for prospecting.

Agents think the road ahead is between providing more value-added services, including compliance advice, versus losing business. Some agents think that the choice is between sell more ancillary products or continue to watch revenues fall. In my mind, the real choice is this: Do you want to be an insurance agent or a fee-based adviser? The difference is huge.

A massive defined contribution storm is about to crash onto the employee benefits landscape. You can choose to ride it out to continued - or even greater - profitability, or you and your firm can get swept away. I've written that employer interest in the defined contribution model will explode in the next 12 months.

Talking with the head of my account management team, I asked her if there was anything she'd like brokers to be more aware of. Quite emphatically, slapping her hand on her desk, she said that brokers need to include their software vendors in the benefits planning process. Also, she said they need to understand how important user acceptance testing is to the success of a technology project.

Our brethren on the direct pay side of compensation and benefits preach total rewards to their clients and employers seem to lap it up. Employee benefit advisers would serve themselves and their customers well to do the same. Are you selling insurance products and services with a total rewards wrapper?

As you read this article, the various notices for the 2014 plan year are freshly mailed. It is now time for plan sponsors and their advisers to sit down and review what worked in 2013 and what improvements can be made for 2014.

Over the last 15 years, Daymark Advisors has worked with hundreds of benefits professionals and voluntary benefits firms across the nation. We've observed that some of the most successful practices create strategic plans for their clients. These observations are consistent across all types of firms and goals. The very best advisers are highly consultative and strategic in their approach to client engagement.

More than a third of the ‘back end’ infrastructure still remains to be built in the federally-run marketplace, top IT official at CMS says Tuesday on Capitol Hill.