Benefits Broker

We can argue all conference long about health care reform, about what exactlys going to happen in January and whether any of us will still have jobs by December or next years Benefits Selling Expo.

Gov. Pat McCrory will soon have a bill prohibiting a health care insurance negotiating tactic that rivals of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina argue it uses to discourage competition and inflate health care costs.

The first draft was as mind-numbing and complex as tax forms. Now the Obama administration is unveiling a simplified application for health insurance benefits under the federal health care overhaul.

A timeline of health reform, the moments, turning points and events that defined the debate, 1993-present.

The Great Recession, as we call it now, began in August 2007, after the U.S. housing bubble began to burst. It went global a couple of months later before the bottom fell out completely in September 2008.

The uninsured have weighed on this country for decadeseconomically, socially and politically.

Theres been a lot of debate over the countrys health care system. But theres one fact nearly everyone agrees on: Health care costs are too damn high.

You might call it the rise of voluntary benefits. The game changer in benefits offerings. Call it whatever you want, but voluntary benefits have exploded in recent years.