Funding Fit
Is Your Company Ready to Self-Fund?
Self-funding is the biggest lever in your benefits budget. It decides who carries the risk, who keeps the surplus, and who sees the data. Find out where you stand in 60 seconds, with a score, a recommended model, and a board-ready report.
Free. Instant. No login. The analysis your broker makes you book a call for.
What Renting Certainty Actually Costs
Fully-insured is safe and simple. It is also the most expensive way to pay for healthcare when your plan runs well. Here is what stays hidden until you look.
You Fund the Carrier’s Good Year
In a fully-insured plan, the surplus from a low-claims year builds the carrier’s balance sheet, not yours. You rented certainty and paid full price.
You Fly Without the Data
Fully-insured renewals arrive as a verdict, not a conversation. You never see claim-level data, so you can’t challenge the number or fix what’s driving it.
The Renewal Picks You
Most companies never chose their funding model. It chose them. Every year the increase lands, you sign, and the cycle repeats.
The Tools Are Locked Up
Brokers and consultants gate this analysis behind a sales call. This one is free, instant, and no login. Answer 7 questions, see where you stand.
Four Rungs, From Renting to Owning
Funding is a ladder, not a switch. The assessment tells you which rung fits, and the next step up.
How It Works
From the first question to a board-ready report in about two minutes.
What Your Score Means
Five weighted factors roll up to a single readiness number. Here is how to read it.
Run Your Funding Fit Assessment
Seven questions. A readiness score, a recommended model, and your next moves. No login.
How many employees do you cover?
Total benefits-eligible headcount. Scale is the single biggest driver of which funding models are even on the table.
The Questions Everyone Asks
Short answers, in plain terms, for the person who signs the renewal.
Should my company self-fund?
It depends on five things: your scale, your cash cushion, how predictable your workforce risk is, whether you will use claims data, and how you handle renewals. This assessment scores all five and gives you a readiness number plus the funding model that fits. Bigger, cash-stable groups with an appetite for data get the most from self-funding. Smaller or tighter groups often start with level-funding or a captive.
How many employees do you need to self-fund?
There is no legal minimum. Traditional self-funding starts working around 100 to 150 employees. Level-funded products serve groups from roughly 10 to 100. Group medical captives extend real self-funding economics down to about 50 lives by pooling volatility across member companies. The tool factors your headcount into the recommendation.
What is a readiness score, and how is it calculated?
It is a 0 to 100 measure of your capacity to benefit from owning more of your claims risk. It weights group scale (25 points), cash cushion (25), workforce stability (20), data appetite (15), and renewal posture (15). Renewal pressure is kept out of the score and instead drives the urgency framing and the savings range. The math is directional and educational, not a quote.
Is level-funded the same as self-funded?
Legally, yes. A level-funded plan sits under ERISA and the employer bears claims risk inside the stop-loss limits. Practically, it is a packaged product with one level monthly payment. Surplus return and data access depend entirely on the contract. It is the most common on-ramp from fully-insured toward self-funding.
What is a group captive, and is it right for a smaller company?
A group captive is an insurance company jointly owned by a group of employers who each self-fund their day-to-day claims while the captive layer absorbs mid-size shocks. Underwriting profit flows back to members instead of a carrier. Because it pools volatility across well-run peer companies, a captive can extend real self-funding economics down to about 50 lives, which makes it the realistic path for many smaller employers that are not large enough to self-fund alone.
How accurate is the savings estimate?
It is directional, not a quote. We model your benefit spend on the KFF 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey baseline of roughly $11,000 per employee per year, then apply a savings band tied to the move from your current model to the recommended one. A hot renewal lifts the high end. Your real number depends on plan design, claims experience, and the stop-loss market. Treat it as a planning range, then pressure-test it on your actual numbers.
Do I have to give my email to see my result?
No. Your readiness score, recommended model, factor breakdown, and savings range all appear instantly on the page. You only share an email if you want the board-ready PDF report emailed to you.
Keep Going
The assessment frames the decision. These tools and guides do the rest of the math.
Book a Funding Strategy Session
30 minutes. We'll pressure-test your Funding Fit result on your real numbers, map the path that fits, and leave you with next steps, with or without us.