In 2012, the Denver Broncos threw caution to the wind and signedan injured, aging quarterback whose future was very much in doubt.At Peyton Manning’s introductory press conference, John Elway,executive vice president of football operations, was understandablyasked about his backup plan in case the risky move didn’t go well.“I don’t have a Plan B,” Elway said. “I’m going with Plan A.”

Plan A paid off last year with the Broncos winning it all —Elway’s lack of a contingency plan was rewarded in a big way. Butthere’s a reason their season is already being called a storybookending — this approach rarely works in real life, as many Democratsare now finding out the hard way.

Few thought Donald Trump had a realistic chance of becoming the45th president of the United States, so it’s somewhatunderstandable that many Democrats were confident leading up toElection Day. According to Buzzfeed’s Kate Nocera, many Demspreceding the election found “the idea of Trump actually winning sounimaginable, no one [had] given much thought to how they’d handlehim winning the election.”

Texas Rep. Marc Veasy said, “It’s never talked about in muchdepth or detail because the guy is such a joke. We can’t fathom itand therefore are not planning for it … If Donald Trump wins, itwould be chaos.”

One senior Democratic Senate aide told BuzzFeed, “No one issitting around planning for a President Trump. No one is meeting,no one is contemplating, no one is meditating about this.”

To be fair, some interviewees specified that no plan wasnecessary “because they disagree with everything he says,” so theircourse was already laid out. Still, some on the left are likelyruing their lack of planning as they scramble to make sense of thenew political landscape.

Meanwhile, many in the benefits industry are celebrating theforthcoming Trump presidency and impending ACA repeal. But Eric Johnson, abrokers sales executive for freshbenies, (who recently shared threeof his health care predictions), advises caution andcircumspection.

“Before criticizing one side and assuming the other side willfix everything, I recommend studying the history of the ACA. Weknow it was based on a program that was put in place under aRepublican governor, but many don't realize that the Massachusettsbill had its origins in a 1993 bill with 20 Republican co-sponsorsthat was introduced as an alternative to Hillarycare. One reasonRepublicans have had so much trouble introducing a replacement planis because nearly every idea they had was embedded in the ACA. Andthat's part of the reason why they plan to replace it with many ofthe same provisions that are currently in place (like the age 26rule). One other bit of history: Trump used to support the idea ofa single-payer system, so I'm not terriblyconfident in his ability to fix this mess. Are you? Really? We'llsee ...”

Whatever your current mood, this election offers a good reminderof the importance of Plan B. Because no matter which side of theaisle you sit on, there will never be a happily everafter.