Your health insurance is likely one of your top three expenses. Yet many employers find themselves in the same frustrating cycle year after year, watching costs climb despite working with an advisor.
After decades working with organizations across industries, we’ve identified three structural issues that may explain why you’re not getting the results you need from your benefits program.
1. You May Not Be Seeing All Your Options
The straightforward approach in our industry is to negotiate your rate renewal down each year and stick with your current carrier. It’s quick, it’s simple, and it feels like progress when you hear your increase is in single digits.
But here’s what that process misses: a proper market evaluation that includes fully insured options, self-funded structures, and alternative funding strategies tailored to your organization.
This deeper work takes significantly more time and effort. It requires analyzing your specific demographics, risk profile, and organizational objectives. Many advisors simply don’t go through this process.
If you’re consistently seeing low increases in the fully insured market, that’s actually a signal you should explore self-funding. You may be leaving significant savings on the table.
2. Understanding How Your Advisor Gets Paid Matters
Most benefits advisors earn 5-7% commission on your premiums. The math is straightforward: when your premiums go up, their compensation goes up too. This isn’t necessarily intentional on their part, but it’s how the traditional model works.
And there’s more to the story. Advisors often receive overrides and bonuses from carriers beyond their standard commission. These must be disclosed to you upfront as part of fiduciary requirements.
Ask your advisor directly: What is your total compensation from our account, including overrides and bonuses? If you’re not getting clear answers, you need to know why. Without full disclosure, you’re not able to properly evaluate whether recommendations are in your organization’s best interest.
This also creates potential fiduciary liability for your company.
3. Not All Advisors Have the Same Expertise
Your benefits program is complex. Alternative funding, plan design optimization, compliance requirements, employee engagement strategies. These areas require specific knowledge and experience.
Not every advisor operates at the same level. Some focus almost exclusively on fully insured renewals because that’s their area of comfort. They may not have the expertise or resources to implement more sophisticated cost containment strategies.
You need an advisor who understands the full range of options, can design a plan specific to your needs, and is willing to do the detailed work required to make it sustainable.
What This Means for Your Organization
For over 20 years, premiums have increased faster than wages. You’ve likely felt this pressure on your budget and heard the same story year after year.
Solutions exist, but they require an advisor who will do comprehensive work, operates with full transparency about compensation, and has deep expertise in alternative strategies beyond standard renewals.
You should feel comfortable asking tough questions about your benefits program. This is your second or third largest business expenditure. You deserve clear answers about how it’s being managed and who benefits from the current structure.
At DSG, we base our compensation on services delivered, not premium percentages. We design plans built specifically for each organization’s objectives, and we’re willing to put our fees at risk based on results.
DM me for more information.