Ask a 90 person employer to name one carrier their broker quoted at the last renewal. Most cannot. They can name the broker. They can usually name whoever runs open enrollment. The list of carriers that were asked, the ones that declined, and the reason each gave: that part is almost never written down anywhere. It is also the only part that tells you whether the number you signed was any good.
So this is about the work, not the job title.
The job has six parts. You probably only see one of them.
- Data. Census, current plan documents, billing detail, claims experience, and a large claimant report if the carrier will release one. Nothing downstream works without this step.
- Marketing the group. Sending your census to carriers and bringing back real quotes on a matched plan design.
- Negotiation. Carrying the competing offers back to the incumbent before you sign anything.
- Plan design and contribution modeling. Showing what a deductible change or a contribution change does to your budget and to your employees’ paychecks, in dollars.
- Compliance. Form 5500 support, the annual gag clause attestation to CMS, ACA reporting, COBRA coordination, nondiscrimination testing where it applies.
- Service. Enrollment, ID cards, billing corrections, claim escalations.
Service is the visible part. It is also the cheapest to deliver, which is why it gets marketed to you. A broker can be excellent at service and still cost you six figures by never taking your group to market.
What does a marketed renewal actually look like?
A renewal is not marketed because somebody says it was marketed. It is marketed when a file exists. That file names the carriers approached, the date each was approached, the plan design submitted, and the response. A declination is a result. “Carrier declined, participation below its minimum” is information you can act on. Silence is not.
Here is the timing that governs all of it. Carriers generally release renewal rates 90 to 120 days before the effective date, and the letter reaches most employers 60 to 90 days out. If your broker starts working the week the letter lands, the market is already half closed. Level funded underwriting in particular needs runway, because the carrier has to review individual health questionnaires or claims data before it will price anything.
We see the same pattern constantly on 1/1 renewals. A number lands in early November, panic arrives in early December, two weeks are left. That is not a negotiation. More on timing in what a normal renewal increase looks like for 2027.
Your broker is legally required to tell you what they get paid
This is the part most employers have never heard of, and it is federal law. Section 202 of Division BB of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 added ERISA section 408(b)(2)(B). Any broker or consultant who reasonably expects to receive $1,000 or more in direct or indirect compensation for services to an ERISA group health plan must give the plan fiduciary a written description of those services and that compensation, before the contract is entered into, extended or renewed. It applies to arrangements entered into, extended or renewed on or after December 27, 2021. The Department of Labor set out its enforcement approach in Field Assistance Bulletin 2021-03. Congress widened the rule on February 3, 2026: Public Law 119-75 replaced “brokerage services” with “services (including brokerage services)” and “consulting” with “other services”, so more of the vendors around your plan now owe you the same disclosure.
Indirect compensation is the interesting phrase. It covers overrides, bonuses and contingent payments from a carrier or general agent, money that moves with how much business your broker places there. It is legal. You are entitled to see it described.
Go find yours. Search your inbox for the plan year you last renewed. If nothing comes back, ask for it in writing and note how long the answer takes. A firm that is comfortable with its own compensation produces the document the same day.
Where else the money shows up
Two more public places, both useful.
Form 5500. An ERISA welfare plan with 100 or more participants at the start of the plan year generally has to file (Department of Labor instructions), and a fully insured plan attaches a Schedule A reporting commissions and fees the insurance company paid on your policy. Fees you pay a broker directly never appear there, which is a gap the CAA disclosure helps fill. Plans under 100 participants are usually exempt, so for most companies this route does not exist at all.
Medical loss ratio rebates. Under 45 CFR 158.210 a carrier must spend at least 80% of small group premium on claims and quality improvement, and 85% in the large group market. Fall short and it owes a rebate, paid to the plan sponsor by September 30. If a rebate arrived and nobody walked you through your allocation obligation to participants, that is a service failure with exposure attached.
Independence is overclaimed. Reach is what matters.
Almost every brokerage in the country calls itself independent. Fine. The useful question is narrower: which markets can this firm actually reach on your behalf?
A producer appointed with three carriers in your state can shop three carriers. A firm that only sells professional employer organizations cannot quote a carrier plan at all, and a firm that only sells carrier plans will never mention the PEO market even where the PEO pool prices better. Both are shopping the half of the market they are set up to shop. We built Vyral to run both searches on one census for exactly this reason, and there is no fee to your business for it.
Reach matters more for small groups than most employers realize, because of how the rate is built. Under 45 CFR 147.102 a carrier in the small group market (employers with 1 to 50 employees, or up to 100 where a state has chosen that) may vary your premium on four things only: age within a 3:1 band, geographic rating area, family size, and tobacco use within 1.5:1. It cannot rate you on your claims. Your real risk is therefore either better or worse than the price you are quoted, and the only way to find out is to put the group in front of markets that do underwrite on health status. That is the whole argument for pricing level funded plans and the PEO market rather than assuming.
The gap a good broker shows you and a lazy one does not
KFF’s 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, a survey of 1,862 employers published on October 22, 2025, found the average family premium reached $26,993, up 6% in a year. The interesting numbers are the firm size splits.
| Firms with 10 to 199 workers | Firms with 200 or more | |
|---|---|---|
| Average single premium | $9,211 | $9,361 |
| Worker contribution, family coverage | $8,889 | $6,227 |
| Average single deductible | $2,631 | $1,670 |
Read the top row again. Smaller employers are not paying a higher premium. They are buying a thinner plan and passing far more of it to staff. KFF also found 28% of covered workers at firms with 10 to 199 workers are in a plan where the worker contribution for family coverage is $12,000 or more a year. Your broker should have shown you that table unprompted.
Four questions that settle whether yours is doing the job
- “Send me the marketing file from last renewal.” Carriers approached, dates, responses. A working broker has this in an hour.
- “Send me our claims experience and the large claimant report.” Groups above roughly 50 to 100 lives can usually get this. If the carrier refuses, that refusal itself tells you what an alternative carrier will be working with.
- “Send me your CAA compensation disclosure for the current plan year.” Direct and indirect. It is required.
- “What funding structures did you price, and why did you rule each one out?” Fully insured, level funded, self funded, PEO. The answer should mention your census age, your claims and your states. If the answer is a general opinion about level funding, your group was never priced.
When to change, and how
Not every weak renewal is a broker problem. A large claimant can move an experience rated group’s renewal more than every other factor put together, and no broker can negotiate that away. What is a broker problem is a renewal that was never tested, a compensation disclosure that does not exist, and a claims data request that goes unanswered for a month.
Changing is mechanical. A broker of record letter is one page, it moves the appointment to the new firm, and it does not change your plan, your carrier, your rates or your employees’ coverage mid year. Most employers assume it is a bigger event than it is. Do it with 90 days of runway, not 20.
Frequently asked questions
What does an employee benefits broker do?
A benefits broker works on behalf of the employer rather than any one insurance carrier. The work is gathering census and claims data, taking the group to market, negotiating the renewal against competing offers, modeling plan design and contributions, handling compliance filings such as Form 5500 and the annual gag clause attestation, and running enrollment and service through the year.
How are benefits brokers paid?
Usually by commission built into the premium, sometimes by a fee agreed with the employer, and often by a mix. Under Section 202 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, any broker or consultant expecting $1,000 or more in direct or indirect compensation from an ERISA group health plan must disclose it in writing to the plan fiduciary before the arrangement is entered into or renewed.
How do I know if my renewal was actually marketed?
Ask for the marketing file: the carriers approached, the dates, the plan design submitted and each response, including declinations. A marketed renewal produces a document. An unmarketed one produces a single number from the incumbent carrier.
Can I see how much commission my broker earns on our plan?
Yes. Request the CAA compensation disclosure directly. Separately, ERISA plans with 100 or more participants file Form 5500, and fully insured plans attach a Schedule A reporting commissions and fees paid by the insurance company.
Does changing brokers change our health plan?
No. A broker of record letter reassigns the agent of record on the existing policy. Your carrier, plan design, rates and employee coverage stay as they are until you decide to change them at renewal.
When should we start working on our renewal?
Three to six months out. Carriers typically release renewals 90 to 120 days before the effective date and the letter reaches employers 60 to 90 days out. Alternative funding needs the most lead time because it requires underwriting.
Have your current renewal read by someone who does not work for the carrier
Send one census and your current plan summary. We will price the open market and the PEO market on the same model and tell you where your renewal sits, including when the right answer is to stay put.