The new Amazon & Co. healthcare venture will shine a spotlight into every perceived darkcorner of the system, with a particular intensity on anyone seen asa middleman. (Photo: Shutterstock)

You don't have to scroll very far in your social media feeds tosee posts of outrage and calls for transparency aimed at the players intoday's health care game. The waste, fraud and at times seemingly criminal behavior of some carriers, pharma andproviders is a travesty. All of them need to be called to accountfor their contributions to this mess.

Oh, it's happening sweetheart

Kevin Trokey is founding partnerand
coach at St. Louis-based Q4intelligence.

The Bezos-Buffett-Dimon (BBD) health care ventureis heating up. While I have serious doubts about their ability tosolve the crisis (I believe that will happen on a much smaller,more local scale), there is one thing that this trio will certainlybring: visibility and outrage.

Related: Free-market health care solutions

I predict BBD will open the floodgates of horror stories fromvictims of the travesty that has befallen our health care system.We will see and hear, at the most publicly visible level, storieswe are already sharing within our relatively small inner circles ona daily basis:

• Lives lost due to inaccessibility of care.

• Couples who opt for divorce so their child can getthe care they need.

• Artificially inflated insurance premiums that havestifled business growth.

I can feel you getting excited. I can hear you saying, “Bring iton, BBD!”

Be careful what you wish for

The spotlight will be shone into every perceived dark corner ofthe system, with a particular intensity on anyone seen as amiddleman. If you aren't concerned yet, you should be. Make nomistake: benefits advisors will be next.

I know most of you work your asses off every day with the bestinterests of your clients in mind. I know the decisions you helpyour clients make are some of the most complex they face. I getit.

But, perception is reality, and you need to brace yourself forthe picture BBD will paint. Be prepared to deal with the perceptionof being nothing more than a distribution channel for carriers—amiddleman.

The carriers are going to be a big target. But when yourcompensation ties you directly to them, when you are contractuallytied to them more closely than you are to your clients, it is goingto be very difficult to separate yourself from the carriers.

No time to spare

Now is the time to re-engineer your business to separateyourself from the carriers and to formally serve your clients. Iget that there are significant changes you will have to make, manyof which are not going to be easy. But there are a couple of thingsthat will take you in that direction.

1. Sit down with each of your clients and have a stewardshipmeeting where you explain very clearly the various ways in whichyou bring them value.

2. Have a transparent conversation about how much you are beingpaid for delivering that value. If possible, let them know you willbe asking the carriers to remove your commissions and switch to afee-based arrangement.

3. Educate them about what is broken about the system and thesolutions we are starting to see. Let them know you will be thereto help them take advantage of every solution that makes sense.

These may be difficult discussions to have but I promise you,they are nowhere near as difficult as the discussion you will haveto have if you wait for BBD to tell the story on your behalf.