HealthStyles.net modules are directed towards individuals, says Sloane, and are being used by employers in tandem with health coverage and financial wellness plans, by credit unions interested in acting as advocates for their memberships, and by insurance companies that see the modules as complements to their products.

Advisors should still play a role in health care planning, says Sloane, and be fluent enough in medical topics to help clients access information and resources. Health care gives advisors an opportunity to engage with clients at every stage in life; thus, addressing health care plans may be a potent value add for advisors and may boost client satisfaction, loyalty and retention.

“The value of investment management is basically being commoditized, and the DOL rule is creating a transparency in the industry that will lead to more intense fee compression,” says Sloane. “Breakpoints are going lower and lower. If advisors want to maintain their level of compensation, they have to think about adding additional value that’s relevant to what they’re doing. One of the best spaces that they can do that in is helping clients think through the ramifications of their health care choices.”

Health care planning responsibility is shifting from doctors and organizations to individuals and families, says Sloane, just as financial responsibility for health care also moves away from government and employers and towards individuals. Just as the health care burden lands on individuals, the planning issues are increasing in number and complexity.

Health care issues tend to be unpredictable. Younger individuals need to be empowered to make informed choices around the health care uncertainties they may face later in life, says Sloane.

“If you don’t figure out how your’e going to fund future expenses now and take care of all the tiers and pieces of a plan that are available at a younger age, a health care plan might not work,” says Sloane. “A health care plan becomes increasingly unaffordable as you age, potentially impossible if you wait too long.”

HealthStyles.net views health and caregiving as a continuum spanning individuals’ entire adult lives. For example, clients in their 20s and 30s are “invincible” and need to understand healthcare and retirement expenses as they relate to employer plans, health savings accounts and group disability coverage.

HSAs are a particular area of weakness when advice is delivered by an advisor, plan sponsor or human resource director, says Sloane.

“The industry is selling these as transactional accounts, and the employer is doing it to reduce the cost of their insurance,” says Sloane. “Most of the people offering HSAs are being compensated by the transactions going in and out of it, not for the growth of assets within them. If people aren’t informed of the benefits of HSAs as savings vehicles, they’re probably missing out on one of the best opportunities they have to mitigate their health care risk later in life through the tax advantages.”

In their 30s and 40s, clients enter the “family years” where they need information about life insurance and guidance about caring for elderly parents and children with special needs.