No doubt, 2014 is a pivotal year in the health care industry. With the individual mandate, market reforms and new insurance taxes—and quite a lot of other provisions—now in effect, it's the most important year yet for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Brokers, carriers and other benefits experts are looking into new ways of business, while holding on to tried-and-true methods. Think voluntary benefits, consumer-driven health plans and a new focus on consulting.

We asked some experts about their thoughts on the new year and what they're expecting for the industry.

Here's what they said.

Continued rise in consumer-driven health plans

“Organizations that haven't already widely adopted consumer-directed health plans will begin to see the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the imminent Cadillac tax as a driving force to add CDH plans to their health benefit portfolios. Organizations that have rolled-out CDH plans in previous years will look to enhance their programs to improve performance and achieve additional cost savings through greater employee adoption and optimization.

Brokers will increasingly be called upon to be the 'quarterback,' integrating with or referring clients to best-of-breed solution providers for CDH education, ACA compliance services, etc… rather than trying to provide those services themselves. Or, they will need to find ways to charge for these services—they will not be able to provide unlimited free consulting to clients in the new world of health care.”

Duncan Van Dusen, co-founder and CEO of Tango Health, Austin

Growth of private exchanges

“In 2014, I anticipate we will continue to see the growth of defined benefit plans as employers examine their benefit costs and determine whether or not they will continue to subject themselves to the medical cost curve.

Similar to the move from pensions to 401(k)s, this is an opportunity for employers to better manage their bottom-line while providing employees with options for coverage. This will likely mean the further growth of private health exchanges to deliver these plans. Consumer-directed health plans could potentially benefit from this trend as employees will be acting as true consumers in their plans selections.”

Dennis Triplett, CEO of UMB Healthcare Services, Kansas City, Mo.

The increasing value of brokers—and a new focus

“Considering the overwhelming challenges of health care reform, the importance of agents and brokers will become increasingly more valued by the American consumer of health care, legislators and regulators.

Considering the cost of health care services varies by more than 500 percent for many services within a market, our industry will advocate for meaningful legislative and regulatory solutions that will produce health care cost transparency. The time is now for the conversation to recognize that health insurance is expensive because health care is expensive.”

Tom Harte, NAHU President and president of Landmark Benefits, Boston

Consolidation, wellness support

“Voluntary benefits will continue on their path to being commodities. Enrollment companies will begin to consolidate in order to provide more services such a platform/HRIS enrollments, 24-hour call centers. New strategies will be born such as supporting employers who want to help their employees to exchanges. Another will be wellness support in the form of shorter wellness questionnaires that provide instant scores back to benefit counselors to help the employee choose appropriate coverage. The first and second quarters will see increased sales as demand pent up by health plan changes will see brokers doing more off anniversary sales to bolster their revenue.”

Jim Christenson, field vice president at Allstate Benefits, Philadelphia

Juggling more roles

“I see brokers and consultants continuing to enter the marketplace with their versions of a private exchange offering as more and more employers are considering changing to this type of a defined contribution benefits delivery model. With PPACA, brokers will also be evolving to become more of a consultant-based strategic partner. They will continue to diversify their revenue streams with viable voluntary products, such as auto and home, that will build client retention and differentiate themselves amongst their competitors in a historically dynamic marketplace.”

Mark Parabicoli, assistant vice president & managing director, auto and home voluntary benefits, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Boston

Self-funding and supplemental coverage

“The trend that I think we will see happen is many more smaller employers moving to a self-funding/captive arrangement. Lots of companies that have never explored this type of arrangement will begin to.

I believe that we are going to continue to see a growing amount of employers supplementing health plans with products such as critical illness and accident. I also think the carriers with superior voluntary products will continue to grow while others just entering the market will fade away.”

Brandon Scarborough, consultant at Power Group Companies, Kansas City, Mo.

Mainstream Non-traditional voluntary benefits

“While employers have become more familiar in recent years with traditional voluntary benefits, this past year has seen non-traditional voluntary benefits offered more frequently in the benefits package. A recent Eastbridge Consulting survey shows that employee purchase programs are among the most popular, with 13 percent of employees owning the product through work. Next is legal plans with 8 percent; identity protection at 3 percent; and pet insurance at 1 percent. Eastbridge notes that ownership of these products is low because many have only recently begun to be accepted as employee benefits.

Look for this to escalate in 2014. Non-traditional voluntary benefits offer workers a way to obtain items and services through convenient payroll-deduction. Most of the non-traditional offerings provide workers with immediate tangible benefits which further increase their appeal as they can be used year-round to obtain something that an employee needs, rather than many core benefits that employees only appreciate when they are sick or injured. Non-traditional voluntary benefits such as group legal plans, financial planning, and employee purchase programs will continue to grow in popularity as viable financial-support tools.”

Elizabeth Halkos, chief revenue officer, Purchasing Power, Atlanta