The voluntary status-quo isn’t acceptable, either

The buzzwords of the year have all circled around the idea of not being “status quo.”

Brokers everywhere are focusing on being innovative, cutting edge and creative. They’re shunning the top-50 broker shops and other brokers who’re still pushing the fully-insured BUCAs and they’re preaching from the hilltops about their ground-breaking solutions designed to help employers mitigate their health care expenses.

The employer saves money and the broker looks like a hero. But, here’s a question: What about the employee-funded dollars? Sure, when the employer saves money it should result in an employee savings as well, but when it comes to what the industry still calls “voluntary,” or what I call enhanced, brokers are still, by and large, doing nothing innovative around the benefits that are typically 100 percent employee funded. Thus, they’re implying that it’s OK to be status quo when it comes to voluntary.