A name can be a tricky thing.

Take for example, the Patient Protection and Affordable CareAct. During the campaign to pass the landmark legislation in 2010,opponents of the then-proposed law facetiously labeled it“Obamacare.” Supporters were quick to assume ownership of themoniker, though. It made sense, actually—there was a time whenPresident Barack Obama's approval rankings weren't hovering around40 percent. Aligning the legislation with so popular a presidentguaranteed support from a lot of people. Obama himself evenreferred to PPACA as Obamacare.

Now fast forward a few years. Opponents were quick to seize onObamacare's botched exchange rollouts, policy cancellations andhigher premiums in an effort to discredit one of the most sweepingdomestic policies to come along since Lyndon B. Johnson's GreatSociety. All of a sudden, critics who used the term “Obamacare”were racists. The Associated Press and NPR began limiting their useof the term. Now that the administration says 8 million people havesigned up for health insurance through exchanges, the vitriol hasdied down somewhat, but the Obamacare name game is sure tocontinue.

People who work in the benefits industry have been going throughtheir own name games over the past few years, thanks to a rapidlyshifting business landscape dominated by PPACA. For a long time,people who sold benefits plans or packages were known as agents orbrokers. But the new law, coupled with marketplace demands, haschanged the nature of many brokers’ and agents’ jobdescriptions.

Nowadays, people in the industry can find a number of differenttitles on their business cards; broker, agent, planner, producer,consultant and advisor are the most common. And with Obamacare infull swing, people in the industry could probably add policyexpert, psychiatrist, attorney, CPA and critic to their cards aswell. Sadly, some benefits professionals could even add the word“former” to their titles after leaving the business altogether.Some states strictly regulate what benefits professionals can callthemselves. Others don't. But it's safe to say people in thebenefits business have plenty of titles right now.

“It's really personal preference what term people use, as thedifference in definitions has become antiquated,” says KathrynGaglione, a spokeswoman for the National Association of HealthUnderwriters.

“An ‘agent’ used to mean someone who was captive to a carrier,and a ‘broker’ could represent multiple carriers, but that's notalways the case anymore. While ‘producer’ is a more accurate term,people outside of the industry generally don't recognize it.‘Advisor,’ ‘consultant’ and ‘planner’ are aspects of anagent/broker's job, but they also don't encompass everything theydo for their clients,” Gaglione says. “‘Benefits professional’ alsoconnotes someone who works in the group field but isn't generallyrecognized as someone who represents individuals and families. Thecatch-all has become ‘health insurance agent.’”

Brokers/agents

While there are many names for benefits professionals, many ofthem still prefer the term “broker” and “agent.” Though the twoterms mean different things, they basically pertain to the samekind of job responsibility: sales. Agents typically are alignedwith a single carrier or product, whereas brokers can sell from amenu of carriers. The terms are still preferred—a look atBenefits Selling readership from 2013 shows that 29.1percent of readers identified themselves as agents and 22.1 percentof readers identified themselves as brokers. So at slightly morethan 50 percent, the terms remain firmly entrenched in theindustry, at least by one method of polling.

“In Kentucky, I can only be an agent or broker,” says ZachZinser of Zinser Benefit Service in Louisville, Ky. “In order tocall myself a consultant, I have to get a license. I haven't gottena license, and if I’m a consultant, I don't know what I’m going tocharge somebody. I know some people that have gotten theirconsultant license, but I don't know if they’re charging people. Icall myself a salesman. I like the term broker; it has a bettermeaning. And when I think of agent, I think of AllState or StateFarm—someone that's locked into something. I think it's better formy clients if I’m a broker.”

Consultant

While brokers and agents still reign supreme, many benefitsprofessionals say their colleagues and competitors are movingtoward calling themselves consultants.

That's because benefits professionals are often called upon todo more than just sell a product—especially in the small groupmarket, and even in the mid-size group market. The BenefitsSelling readership survey from 2013 shows that 11.2 percent ofreaders identify as consultants—but the term's popularity isgrowing.

“I think PPACA is changing, or at least affecting, everything inour business,” says Brandon Scarborough, a benefits consultant forPower Group in Overland Park, Kan. “Clients are relying more ontheir consultants to make sure they’re compliant and giving themthe latest updates on everything. That's part of our job—to be asinformed on PPACA as possible. That's if you’re a broker, aproducer or a consultant—whatever your title is. It's important toknow as much as you can about what's going on with PPACA.”

Many benefits professionals say clients come to them with allkinds of questions, which means consultant is a good catch-all.Many say clients come to them with compliance questions that oftenmake them feel like legal consultants. Oftentimes, because clientsdon't want to pay a lawyer, the benefits consultant gets the call.As many employers and employees begin purchasing coverage, benefitsprofessionals can even be asked to help a client make financialdecisions.

“I still consider myself an agent,” says John Tjarks, presidentof A-OK Insurance in Pea Ridge, Ark. “Consultant is a strongword—you’re going to have aspects of that in your job. With theAffordable Care Act, you’re going to have to know what advancedpremium tax credits are and how clients recoup those, and whenyou’re talking to people you need to know about tax returns andwhere to look at what's non-taxable. You have to know a lot. You’reno longer in a world where you can just sell a product; you have toknow a law. The health care law has made it where you have to knowa lot of law—and tax law in particular—so you don't guide yourclient into a bad situation.”

Advisor

Another name for benefits professionals that's gaining favor is“advisor.” The reason for this is simple: connotation. To manyclients, the term “consultant” is associated with a costly fee.“Advisor” doesn't carry the same association, so many benefitsprofessionals look at advisor as a term that lets clients knowthey’re more than salespeople, but they don't come with a hefty feeattached.

“Advisor is probably the most prevalent word right now,” saysAaron Davis, 2013 Broker of the Year and president of NextLogicalBenefits Strategies in Westminster, Maryland. “The thought ofworking with a broker—the connotation is that you’re a middle man.As an advisor, you’re not saying you’re a full-blown consultant,but it's right in between. Advisor is the up-and-coming name.”

The Benefits Selling readership numbers show that manybenefits professionals agree with Davis. About 33.2 percent ofreaders call themselves advisors.

More names

Other terms benefits professionals use often are planner andproducer. The Benefits Selling readership survey showsthat 4.4 percent of readers used the term “planner” to describethemselves. “Producer” is also in common usage, but it doesn't showup in the readership survey. Producers work the front lines,churning up leads and cultivating relationships with potentialclients, which harkens back to the good old “broker” and “agent”days.

Benefits professionals across the country say there are manyother names that apply to their jobs. For Denise VanPutten, anaccount manager for the Lighthouse Group in Grand Rapids, Michigan,the word “partner” aptly describes her client relationship.

“Our No. 1 job is to look out for our consumers and theiremployees,” VanPutten says. “We’re partners. We advise, consult andplan, but we’re a partner with them as they continue to navigatehealth care reform. I’m going to advise them what they can do andconsult with them.”

VanPutten, who works with many small groups, says that humanresources titles crop up with her clients, too. “As far as thehuman resources role that we play, it depends on the group size,”VanPutten says. “In the under-50 market, we are their humanresources arm. An employer is trying to make a decision on healthinsurance so he can meet the needs of his employees and theirfamilies. That's a big part of retention. An employer of a10-person group, he doesn't have an HR person. Larger companieshave an entire department for human resources.”

“Do they see me as part of their HR department? We always offerour clients a meeting with the new hires,” Zinser says. “Very fewtake me up on that. I don't want to be viewed as an HR person—thereare people that get paid to do that. But for smaller companies, Idon't mind. We get questions all the time about HR matters. You’realready seeing some brokers marketing themselves as HRdepartments.”

From old-school “broker-agents” to consultants and advisors allthe way to non-traditional names, benefits professionals are doinga lot for their clients. Obamacare, or PPACA, has a lot to withthat. And there are probably a few names benefits professionalswill start taking over in the future. By now, though, most benefitsprofessionals are accustomed to the name game because they knowthat change—well, that's the name of the game.