Posted by Brian Honan on October 29, 2026 in Human Resources
For employers with January health plan renewals, the work is already underway. Budgets are being built, renewal proposals are arriving, and decisions about employee coverage are taking shape. Before those decisions are finalized, it is worth asking whether the alternatives include a different way to fund your health plan. Level funding is one option that deserves consideration for some small and midsize employers. Understanding how it works can help you evaluate whether your renewal recommendation reflects the choices available to your business. How Level Funding Works With a traditional fully insured plan, an employer pays premiums to an insurance carrier, which assumes responsibility for covered claims. A level-funded arrangement is a form of self-funding that packages claims funding, administrative services, and stop-loss insurance into a predictable monthly payment. The claims portion pays for covered medical expenses. Administrative fees support services such as claims processing. Stop-loss insurance protects the employer...
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Posted by Brian Honan on June 10, 2026 in Human Resources
Good benefits decisions don’t get made at renewal. They get made in the months before it, when there’s still time to act on what the data is showing. Renewal season brings a concentrated burst of activity — negotiations, plan design decisions, open enrollment — and then it goes quiet. That quiet is where strategy either develops or doesn’t. Mid-year is that moment. Whether your plan year runs January to December or follows a different calendar entirely, the midpoint is one of the most underutilized opportunities in benefits management. Here’s what a mid-year benefits review should include. Claims and Cost Trends By mid-year, your claims data tells a story. Are costs tracking above or below prior year? Is pharmacy spend behaving as expected? Have any high-cost claimants emerged that could influence your renewal position? You don’t need a complete picture to draw useful conclusions. Even directional data — trending up,...
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Posted by Brian Honan on February 23, 2026 in Human Resources
Most employers evaluate their employee benefits strategy once a year — when renewal arrives. Premium increases are presented. Contribution strategies are reviewed. Plan design adjustments are discussed. But by the time renewal hits your inbox, the story has already been written. Renewal reflects a year’s worth of cost trends, claims activity, utilization patterns, and funding performance. The increase itself may be new — but the underlying drivers have been developing all year long. That’s why benchmarking before renewal can fundamentally change the conversation. Renewal Is the Result — Not the Strategy Healthcare cost pressures build continuously throughout the plan year: * Medical claims accumulate * Pharmacy spend fluctuates * High-cost claimants impact loss ratios * Demographics shift * Utilization patterns evolve When renewal arrives, carriers price based on this experience. At that point, many employers are reacting rather than strategically positioning themselves. Evaluating your market position before renewal allows...
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Posted by Brian Honan on December 12, 2025 in Human Resources
A Post-Renewal Checkup for HR Leaders & Business Owners For most employers with a January 1 medical renewal, the heavy lifting is finally behind you. You’ve reviewed plan options, assessed costs, communicated updates to employees, and locked in your benefits strategy for the coming year. But before you move on, this moment presents an important opportunity. How well did your benefits partner actually guide you through the renewal process? To help employers reflect on that question, we created a quick, two-minute Benefits Partner Evaluation — a simple way to assess whether your current advisor delivered the level of strategy, communication, and support your organization deserves. The evaluation is built around five essential components of a high-performing benefits partner. As you read through the sections below, compare your renewal experience to what best-in-class service should look like. 👉 Start the Benefits Partner Evaluation here: https://www.flexiquiz.com/SC/N/benefits-partner-report-card 1. Plan Design & Optimization...
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Posted by Brian Honan on November 5, 2025 in Human Resources
Why Early Strategy — Not Last-Minute Panic— Drives Better Results For many companies, January is the biggest month of the year for employee benefits renewals. Roughly 60% of employer health plans are renewed on January 1, setting the stage for a full year of coverage, costs, and employee experience. That makes the months leading up to January a critical planning window, yet it’s also one of the busiest times of year for HR and company leadership. Between budgets, bonuses, holidays, and year-end reporting, benefits decisions can easily get pushed to the back burner. The result? Rushed renewals, missed opportunities, and plans that don’t reflect your company’s goals. A January Benefits Renewal Deserves More Than an “As-Is” Rollover If your broker’s renewal conversation looks like a quick review of your current plan and a single “sign-off” option, you’re not getting the partnership you deserve. Renewal time should be a strategic...
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