Most employers don't know if their health premiums are competitive because they've never seen a benchmark report. Here's what to ask for and what to do with the answer.
An 8-life Midwest group facing a 38% Anthem or UnitedHealthcare renewal has no negotiating power, because ACA rating rules removed the levers. Here are the three structural moves that are left, and the math behind each one.
A pre-open-enrollment audit checklist of 10 questions to ask your TPA in October, covering rate loading, portal readiness, MHPAEA compliance, ID card production, and enrollment controls.
Terminal liability, rate cap guarantees, and run-out provisions are three stop-loss contract terms that directly affect your cost exposure. Most brokers never negotiate them.
Vendors are selling stripped-down low-cost plan designs to mid-market employers as a cost-saving move. Plans that fail the ACA's 60% minimum value standard earn you a Form 226-J penalty letter two to three years later.
Open enrollment errors don't surface immediately. Late SPD updates, eligibility coding mistakes, and missed required notices create compliance exposure that shows up at audit, not at renewal.
For calendar-year ERISA plans, the Summary Annual Report is due September 30, 2026, covering the 2025 plan year. Here's the template language, distribution rules, and what happens if you miss it.
A probability forecast for US universal healthcare, built from 8,000 simulated futures. Structural reform odds are zero at three years and 70% at twenty. The likeliest path away from your group plan is not a law at all.
Standard employer dental plans cover cleanings, not the procedures that actually cost money. That design gap shows up in delayed care, poor utilization, and eventually in your medical claims.
Roughly 3–8% of the dependents on your health plan right now are ineligible. A dependent eligibility audit finds them, removes them, and typically pays for itself within a year.
U.S. drug prices averaged 278% of OECD comparison country prices in 2022, with brand-name drugs hitting 422%. Here's what that gap costs self-insured mid-market employers and what you can actually do about it.
