There has been perhaps no more divisive issue in this country over the past three years than that of health care reform. Supporters love it; opponents loath it. Most don't really understand it.

Beyond the obvious partisan politics, there is deep confusion among employers and employees alike on how health care reform will impact corporate benefit plans, provider offerings, and costs, when it takes effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

A recent roundtable discussion among the nation's leading benefits brokers revealed:

• • Employers are wrestling with how much change they can afford at their organization.

• • Employees don't want the burden of managing their own health care plan decisions.

• • Employees don't want the burden of managing their own health care plan decisions.

Neither side understands how health care insurance marketplaces will really work.All of this makes the next few months critical for educating the public on what health care reform holds in store. It is also changing the traditional role of the insurance broker. In this new environment, brokers need to play the role of consultant and advisor on both a corporate and an individual employee level. Rather than representing large pools of employees on a corporate plan, brokers will sit down, one-by-one to advise employees on what to do. They may send employees to public or private marketplaces (sometimes also referred to as marketplaces) or other plan offerings; and they may depend on voluntary benefit sales to offset lost company plan volume.