Benefits Selling expo speaker: Make sure to attend Brian Robertson's session, “When Worlds Collide,” May 19 at 1:30 p.m. in Trailblazer A.

It was October 2014 when a voluntary benefits broker, a traditional self-funding TPA and an IRS PPACA regulator walked into a bar….

You might think it was chance, but a certain snarky editor of a popular benefits publication was already in the bar (yeah, I know, what a surprise). He was there to meet the voluntary broker, who had brought along the TPA, his new best friend. The bar owner, who has 33 locations in five states, is a client of the benefits broker. He has more than 600 employees and although the company has never offered qualifying medical coverage to its hourly employees, it has offered a limited medical plan in the past. With PPACA mandates and deadlines breathing down his neck, the bar owner was trying to understand his options.