There's no shortage of bad news for benefit brokers these days.Medical-loss ratio calculations and health exchanges are expectedto slash the commissions carriers pay agents over the next fewyears. Federal subsidies for employees earning up to 400 percent ofthe poverty level and Medicaid qualifications for employees earningup to 133 percent (instead of the current 100 percent) of thepoverty level mean the numbers of employees that you insure coulddecrease by as many as half, depending on which predictions youbelieve. The states' health exchanges will probably pay commissionsto sign up employees that move to the exchanges, but it's likely tobe low; perhaps as little as .5 percent to 1percent.  

The question is: What will you do over the next two years toprepare yourself for the landscape in your industry after2013? 

There really are only four strategies you can adopt in responseto these changes. You can hope Congress repeals the changes; youcan adjust your lifestyle downward to match a decrease of up to 50percent in your income; you can aggressively try to get customersto switch from your competitor to you for their health care; or youcan add new lines of revenue from existing sources. Or, you can doa combination of them.