After several years of the ACA, many of us in the employee benefits industry still struggle with understanding its rules and mandates, how to pull reporting requirements together, and even advising clients on their long-term health care strategies. So what has PPACA really brought us?  And more importantly, where do we go from here? How can we best serve our customers (and make a living)?

I spend all day every day talking to employers, carriers, employee benefits brokers, and consultants. In almost every one of these conversations, I hear evidence of ACA's failures and (less frequently) its successes.

Sometimes I feel that I am having the same conversation with the same prospect or client over and over again on the same rule or reporting item, while other times our conversations are centered on topics such as carrier stability, market stability, product changes, new products and/or services being created in response to ACA.