WASHINGTON, DC — I couldn't help but notice the serendipity this week of Hollywood's big night while brokers and agents from across the country gather here in the nation's capital as part of their annual pilgrimage to lobby elected officials.
NAHU is at its best when all of its forces — or at least the most dedicated of them — are mustered together here in the capital. It's at its best when it's firing up its base, engaging an otherwise disenfranchised lot.
I heard one broker celebrating the end of large groups for small houses like his. No one wants them anymore, it seems. No one wants a Lucky Strike. In this post-group economy, it's not worth the hassle or the heartbreak. The smaller groups are much more receptive, and there's a shared sense of being in this together.
On the other end of the bar, there was a broker who couldn't give a damn about PPACA. He argued pretty passionately that what brokers like him needed to worry about was Aon or Marsh. Not Burwell or Biden. His fear, which admittedly teetered on paranoia, stemmed from an absence of trust with both clients and prospects alike.
"Why should I go pitch them?" he asked defiantly. "Why should I waste my time with all that work when all they're gonna do is turn around and give the business to Gallagher?"
