The 2014 Benefits Selling Expo marked a big milestone: Wecelebrated our 10th show. And there was plenty to celebrate.

The expo, held April 1-3 in Colorado Springs, Colo., followedthe March 31 deadline of open enrollment in PPACA plans. Keynotespeakers Mike Huckabee, a onetime GOP frontrunner for president;Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary and Obama advisor;and Tom Tancredo, a former Colorado congressman, explained theimplications of PPACA — the good, bad and the ugly.

And at the show, Ed Oravetz, president and senior benefitsconsultant at Visicor in Friendswood, Texas, was named BenefitsSelling's 2014 Broker of the Year.

Dozens of breakout sessions described the failures, the fixesand the future facing the industry.

Here's a recap of the big items from the Benefits Selling Expoyou may have missed.

Huckabee calls PPACA the ‘wrong approach’

“Ifelt from the very beginningthat Obamacare was the wrong approach — not because I’m aRepublican but because I was a governor for 10.5 years.”

Mike Huckabee believes that some of the ideals of Obamacare—suchas getting the uninsured insured—are noble.

But, unfortunately, the law is lacking,he says, in oneparticularly important concept: common sense.

“The reason Obamacare was never designed to work is because itwas (written) by people who have not a clue as to what they weredoing to the industry and health care in this country,” Huckabeesaid in the opening keynote speech April 1 at the 2014 BenefitsSelling Expo.

Common sense isn't reflected in the 37 changes theadministration has made to the Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act since it passed. Common sense isn't having premiums soarfor those who can't afford it. Common sense doesn't involve passinga health care law that doesn't have the support of doctors. Andcommon sense isn't having the federal government be in control ofsomething it knows nothing about.

“I felt from the very beginning that Obamacare was the wrongapproach—not because I’m a Republican but because I was a governorfor 10.5 years,” he said.

The former Arkansas governor and current Fox News host believesgovernment works best on a state level—especially in insurance,where states set up the insurance commissioner, the insurancecommission and, of course, understand the regulatory environmentfor insurance.

Huckabee said he particularly feels for Americans who strugglewith chronic health issues and, as a result, a constant flood oftoo-high health bills.

“We could have done things about the chronically uninsured andwe should have,” he said. “People are in a world of hurt, throughno fault of their own, faced with extraordinarily medicalexpenses—most of us would accept we have a collective opportunity(to help). In a country like ours, what makes us unique is we don'tmind helping neighbors.”

What he thinks should be done to help that group is to put themin their own special subsidized group. The market should be splitinto a normal risk pool and an extraordinary-risk pool, he said.Those paying “extraordinary” bills would be helped because of thesubsidies, and the normal risk people would be helped because theyaren't stuck paying for other consumers’ high premiums.

Though there is the responsibility to help, he stressed that noone should get insurance, or benefits, for free.

“The biggest mistake is when you give people benefits for whichthey have no investment in whatsoever,” Huckabee said to anapplauding audience. “You have to apply common sense.”

Another part of the law that lacks common sense is to try to getyoung adults enrolled in insurance, but then tell them they canstay on their parents’ plan until they are 26. That, he said,“knocks the legs from a big part of the market.”

There also is the continued problem that young people strugglewith rationalizing buying insurance, often believing they are toohealthy or young or would simply rather spend their money onsomething else.

And little — or no — doctor support isn't helping the cause,either. After talking to roughly 200 family doctors over the yearsabout PPACA, Huckabee anticipates in five years “your basic familyphysicians will either be in concierge medicine or ‘God help youmedicine.’”

Without changes to the law, Huckabee said PPACA is an“unsustainable animal that will eat us alive.”

But he's still optimistic that things can change for the better.For example, he said, “Republicans have put a lot of ideas outthere but the problem is they are just not under one umbrella.”Once they work together to submit ideas, they could make moreheadway.

Huckabee told brokers in the audience that he sympathizes withthem for being in a “difficult position” because of PPACA.

But, at the same time, they have a unique business opportunity,he said.

“You may be in a different position than doctors, hospitals andothers who are taking a direct frontal hit from Obamacare,”Huckabee said. “You’ll have to market creatively and differentlybut I’d like to think in many ways you are in a unique opportunitymoment. You may have some of the best opportunities to know what(products) consumers need and want as opposed to what thegovernment thinks they want and makes them pay for.”

Tancredo fears 'singlepayer’

Tom Tancredo believes the PatientProtection and Affordable Care Act will take the nation down thewrong path.

So far down, he predicted, that the law will result in adisastrous single payer health care system. And the former Coloradocongressman, a right-wing firebrand, thinks it's no accident.

“Obamacare is designed to fail. It cannot possibly work.Premiums will go up dramatically for obvious reasons. It's designedto fail to bring about a single payer and bring about a socializedhealth care system. It is worrisome, to say the least.”

“Obamacare is designed to fail. It cannot possibly work.Premiums will go up dramatically for obvious reasons,” he said at akeynote address April 2. “It's designed to fail to bring about asingle payer and bring about a socialized health care system. It isworrisome, to say the least.”

Tancredo—a Republican running for Colorado governor this fall —said the momentum will then work against insurance companies — “thebogeyman,” the bad guys who are sending the huge bills toconsumers. So they will be eliminated in the single-payer system,he predicted.

That's despite the fact that a “huge part of the insuranceindustry” went along with PPACA at first. That wasn't surprising,he said, based on the promise that the law would bring them 46million new customers.

But the industry has caught on to the issues surrounding thelaw, he said, and it shouldn't merely stand by.

“It's very scary stuff. And as individuals and as an industry weshouldn't be trapped into going along with this,” Tancredo said.“It's a suicide pact for the industry and for America.”

Tancredo also railed against PPACA sign-up numbers released bythe administration the previous day.

“It's no surprise to me (the administration) gave us the numberson April 1,” he said.

The 7 million sign-ups aren't impressive when you consider thatthere are 46 million uninsured, he said. Plus, Tancredo said, thosewho signed up weren't all uninsured, and it's still unclear whosigned up, as far as risk pools, age groups, Medicaid numbers andso on.

Tancredo said President Obama was clear about his intentionswith his flawed health care plan when he said, “I intend tofundamentally transform America.”

“The president has articulated his desires. No one paidattention,” he said. “We should have.”

“The America he wants to transform is the America I happen tolove,” he continued.

The big issue, Tancredo said, is that as a country we can'ttrust big government to handle important domestic policy issues,such as health care.

“I don't know anybody who still thinks the government canovertake anything of significance in terms of domestic policy anddo it correctly,” he said. “Every time you give them another set ofresponsibilities you surrender a certain set of freedom. Healthcare is a perfect example.”

During his hour-long session, Tancredo also focused onimmigration, his signature issue.

A staunch and vocal opponent of illegal immigration, he saidpoliticians—his own party included—has not done nearly enough tocombat the issue.

“We are amiss not to secure our borders, amiss not to enforcethe law,” Tancredo said. “It's a slap in the face to everybody whohad done it the right way.”

“It's been an interesting, fascinating time in politics for me,”he said. “I’ve been at odds with my party more than I have been insync with them.”

Gibbs predicts employer mandate will bekilled

A former longtime advisor to President Barack Obama predictedthat the employer mandate — a key piece of Obamacare — will notsurvive.

It was among several predictions Robert Gibbs, former WhiteHouse press secretary, had for the future of the Patient Protectionand Affordable Care Act in his speech.

“I don't think the employer mandate will go into effect. It's asmall part of the law. I think it will be one of the first thingsto go.”

“I don't think the employer mandate will go into effect. It's asmall part of the law. I think it will be one of the first thingsto go,” he said to a notably surprised audience.

The employer mandate has been delayed twice, he noted. The vastmajority of employers with 100 or more employees offer healthinsurance, and there aren't many employers who fall into themandate window, he said.

Killing the employer mandate would be one way to improve the law— and there are a handful of other “common sense” improvementsneeded as well, he said.

Others include better outreach ahead of next year's enrollment —educating people about the law's deadlines, penalties andsubsidies; improved technology; and greater incentives, besides nothaving to pay a low penalty, to young people so they will enroll inhealth coverage.

And, most importantly, Gibbs said “health care has to add anadditional layer of coverage cheaper than the plans alreadyoffered.”

In his hour-long speech — which included questions and answers —Gibbs admitted to questioning whether the individual mandate aspart of the law was the way to go; being embarrassed and criticalover the “truly horrible” exchange rollout last fall; and cringingwhen former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi infamously quipped“we have to pass the bill to find out what's in it.”

Despite the tough road for PPACA, Gibbs remained adamant healthreform “had to be done” and needs to forge ahead.

“The president had what I thought was several off-ramps or exits… to move on (with the law.) But he never wavered in what he wantedto do. That's because of one simple reason: He felt we had no otherchoice but to act.”

Because of the law, he said more people are covered than everbefore, new community health centers are helping underserved areas,and adults face less fear over being rejected for coverage becauseof the pre-existing conditions.

As a country, Gibbs said, “we’ve talked about reform for a longtime — and abandoned health reform along the way.”

With PPACA — as well as other innovations and strides intreatment — the country will get closer to more meaningfulcare.

“Status quo isn't worth going back to,” he said. “The betterpath forward is the path to better care.”

Despite the hardships of getting Americans on board with thelaw, he said the public was largely coming around. Poll numbershave shown that despite opposition to the law, the majority ofAmericans don't want PPACA repealed. Instead, they prefer improvingthe law.

And Gibbs is all for it.

“We need to have an honest discussion about improving andtweaking the law,” he said.

After all, the law, he reminded the audience, is still in itsvery beginning stages, “in the first inning” of the game.

“Change hasn't been easy and it won't be easy,” Gibbs said. “Itwill be a long time before we know how this will play out. But thelaw has real potential to work.”