That, in part, is what this generation of young brokers is working to ensure. By tackling the broken health care system head on and helping redefine the benefits industry, they're also redefining the role of the broker.

Top-of-mind for employers and advisors is the increase in benefit costs, aka, the rate escalator. How are brokers working to get clients off of it? Silverman asked the panel. "The first thing is to explain to clients why they're on a rate escalator," Gearhart said. "Explain to the client that their rates will increase. If your rates decrease, so does the carrier's operational budget. After you have that conversation, you can shift to vertical integration in the supply chain."

Caparisos emphasized starting the conversation early, rather than waiting for the sticker-shock at open enrollment. "Outlay the market: worst-case scenario, best case," he said. That gives the client time to explore and get comfortable with other strategies. "The last thing your client wants is to hear it's a 15 percent increase, and then you're in knee-jerk mode."

Another hot topic for brokers today is compensation, with more abandoning a commission-based model for fee-for-service or even pay-for-performance. "I think that the broker distribution channel for health care will not be in existence in 48 months," Gearhart predicted. "The need to be transparent, moving to fee-for-performance, is mission critical."

But that's not an easy conversation to have with clients, who are often just looking at the bottom-line. "I was meeting with a 1,200 life group in South Carolina," Miner recalled. "I'd met with the CFO three times: 'My current broker is making X. Would you match? No? Why wouldn't you?'

"That's the value that you associate with your current broker," she continued. "That's why you're the one going out and looking for new solutions. You hire a consultant to do the heavy lifting so you don't have to."

Case in point: Pennington, whose work focuses primarily on the enhanced space, was tasked with creating a Starbucks-like benefit portfolio for a Dunkin' Donuts franchise. "How do you do that for a 10-location franchise?" she said. "We worked with multiple carriers and found multiple solutions, but we did it. We're not presenting a benefits portfolio, we're building an overall experience."

Gearhart perhaps framed it best when he said, "If you want to win a war, pick your battlefield."

"We don't quote," he said, explaining that smaller agencies simply can't compete against the same metrics as the bigger houses. "If you send 10 people out, they're going to come back with the same thing. You're a lot more flexible, a lot faster. Don't fight on everyone else's battlefield; create your own."

One key to the continued success of brokers (and a reason they'll still be around in 10 years), is collaboration. "Collaboration is everything," Waterfall said. "You don't know what you don't know. I wouldn't be here, know any of these people, without collaboration."

"I heard a statement a year and a half ago that resonated with me," Miner chipped in. "'No broker has a corner on the market of good ideas.' I think I'm pretty smart, but I enjoy being with smarter people. We can learn things from everybody."