The same five stages, on every account, every year.
A datum is the fixed reference every other measurement is taken from. Ours is what your plan actually costs once the census is held still — not the headline number on the renewal letter. Everything else we do is measured against it.
Nothing here is improvised.
The same sequence runs on a twelve-life group and a four-hundred-life group. What changes is how long each stage takes, not whether it happens.
Why we hold the census still.
One employer, one renewal year. Three different ways of describing the same increase — only one of them tells you anything.
+21%
Total premium. The number most employers are quoted, and the one most likely to start a panic. It rose partly because the group grew and partly because a plan was added.
+9.55%
Blended per-employee cost. Better, and still wrong. It moves when the mix between plans shifts, even if no rate changed at all.
+6.80%
Held census. The same people, the same plans, priced a year apart. This is the datum. It is the only one of the three you can put next to last year and mean something by it.
Four consecutive renewals, one employer.
Each figure as the carrier stated it, in writing, at the time.
+11.98% → +10.91%
The first two years. Double-digit asks, in a market where double digits were normal.
−3.40% → −4.43%
The last two. Below zero, twice running.
Two things worth saying plainly, because we would ask them of anyone else making this claim. There was no renewal in the intervening year, so it is four renewals rather than four calendar years. And the move below zero coincides with a carrier change, not negotiation alone — stage two, not stage three.
Every stage leaves something behind.
A number you can defend
Your renewal on a held census, with the arithmetic shown, so you can take it to a board without being asked a question you cannot answer.
The market, in writing
What each carrier said, including the ones that said no. A quote you never took is still evidence about the one you did.
A dated implementation plan
Eligibility files, ID cards, the platform build and open enrollment, with names and dates against each.
A compliance calendar
The filings and notices your plan year actually triggers, ahead of the deadline rather than after it.
Named people
The five who hold your account, and what each of them is for.
Next year’s baseline
This year’s datum becomes the reference for the next renewal. That is the whole point of doing it the same way every time.
You do not have to change anything to find out where you stand.
Five steps. The first costs you four documents. The last is a decision you make with better information than you have today.
Send us what you already have
The renewal letter, your current plan summary, the contribution split by tier and enrolled counts by tier. Two more if your group is 50 or more. Missing pieces are the most common reason a review never happens, and the easiest to solve — sign a one-page authorization and we request them from the carrier ourselves.
We set the datum
We reprice on a held census, so you are comparing like with like. The increase comes back as the three numbers it actually is, not the single number printed on the letter.
You get a straight read, in writing
Whether it is competitive against the market we work in every day. Where we see opportunity in funding, plan design or contributions. And the five questions we would ask your carrier. About seven days at 2 to 50 employees, fourteen at 51 to 250, up to twenty-one at 250 and above, assuming a complete file.
You decide, and nothing has changed yet
No RFP. No broker of record letter. No obligation to move anything. Some employers stop here with a sharper set of questions than they arrived with, and that is a fine outcome.
If you go ahead, the method runs
We test the market, negotiate with alternates and credits requested in writing, and implement as a project with dates on it. Then we carry the year — claims, billing and compliance off your desk, not just at renewal.
If your plan renews 1 January, rates usually land about sixty days out — early November. The best month to send us last year’s renewal is the one you are in.
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
248.370.8853
719.425.2649
281.404.5670