Renewal of benefits package for employees???

[Guest Sheralyn Padua]

This is the first time I've had to renew the health coverage and the rates have drastically increased. What is the best way to shop around for health benefits packages???

------------------

S.Padua

[Sheila K]

Sheralyn:

My company has 350 employees, with only about 150 full-timers receiving benefits. We self-fund our insurance policy. It is difficult to keep our benefit costs under control with such a small group. We have used a broker for the past 4 years to do our shopping for us. He has access to our experience and can shop many vendors for us. It saves us an immeasurable amount of time. The size of your group and your experience makes a big difference in pricing too.

Good luck!

Sheila K

[Guest Advantage Benefits]

Unfortunately, most companies quote out their benefits every year, or every other year. It is vital to make sure you have a plan that is competitively priced while also maintaining quality.

Sheila is right that a brokerage firm can present many quotes to you with input on how the service levels are as well as past renewal history.

If you do nothave a local contact we may be able to help or point you in the right direction! Good luck.

[Greg Judd]

Perhaps more important than their prowess as seasoned shoppers, brokers can give smaller organizations the market clout they may not be able to muster on their own.

Insurers value brokers who bring them significant & satisfactory business (a meaningful total number of covered lives who collectively do not generate an extraordinary volume of claims).

Good group brokers manage their book of business to a) give their clients great service (plan design, communications, transaction & vendor management, etc) b)deliver enticing insurables to insurers. Smaller employers represented by such a broker may benefit rate-wise because the broker will have more negotiating capital with insurers than the organization would have on its own, thanks to the broker's existing, day-to-day business relationship with the insurer, the appeal of the broker's client roster, the insurer's eagerness to keep other existing business or to be considered for any of the broker's new accounts, etc.

The key for smaller employers is to find a firm focused on group insurance/employee benefits, but not so big that its reps regularly forget your name & your organization's name. Thankfully, there are still a fair number of such firms in most areas of the country.