What are some really cool things that could make open enrollment more exciting in the near future? It's all about the data. (Photo: Shutterstock)

There has been quite a bit of change taking place in health care and employee benefits as we move toward open enrollment this year. Most brokers are implementing some of the more important things like having a good strategy, planning ahead, polling employees about what they like and don't like, and getting benchmarking data to see what others in the industry are doing.

That said, one of the things I am thinking about is what might be new, and what kind of substantive changes can we expect moving forward into 2019 and beyond?

For the small group market, the Affordable Care Act continues to undergo significant changes under the current administration. For example, the Cadillac Plan tax was delayed from 2020 to 2022. Also, earlier in the year, the administration announced that they are giving states the authority to cut back on the 10 essential health benefits mandated by the ACA. In addition, there are new rules that expanded both association health plans, and short-term medical plans, in June and August, respectively.