Most employers never see the first part of their health insurance renewal.
They get an email from me with the renewal attached, a summary spreadsheet, and maybe a recommendation. What they don’t see is everything that happened before I clicked Send.
Here’s the thing.
By the time you see that email, I’ve probably been thinking about your renewal for days.
Every insurance company has its own way of delivering renewals. Some send an email. Some post them to a broker portal. Some are right on time. Some are late. Some years they’re early, and the next year they’re not. After all these years, I’ve learned not to expect too much consistency.
Around the turn of every month, I’m watching for them.
What I Look for First
When they start coming in, the very first thing I look at isn’t the premium.
It’s the percentage increase.
If I see a low single-digit renewal, I almost relax. That’s probably not going to be a difficult conversation.
When I see 18%, 27%, or 43%…
I still don’t like it.
That hasn’t changed in thirty-five years.
Mike McCarthy has a saying I’ve always liked.
“We hit the ceiling before the client does.”
It’s true.
Before we ever call the employer, we’ve already had our own reaction. We’ve already been frustrated. We’ve already started asking ourselves the same questions the client is going to ask.
- Can we do better than this?
- Can we reduce the increase?
- Can we preserve the benefits employees are already comfortable using?
That’s where the real work begins.
The renewal goes into our system. I organize the files. I start building the summary spreadsheet. I begin looking through the carrier’s plan offerings for alternatives that make sense.
Not the cheapest plans.
The plans that are the least disruptive while still accomplishing something meaningful.
There’s a difference.
Eventually all of that becomes one simple email.
Your renewal.
A summary spreadsheet.
And a note that says if you’d like to review additional options, we’ll get started.
The email is only a few paragraphs long.
The work behind it has been going on long before it arrived in your inbox.
That’s the part most people never see.
At a Glance
- Much of the work behind a health insurance renewal happens before the employer receives the renewal.
- The first thing I evaluate is the percentage increase, not just the premium.
- Every renewal is reviewed for opportunities to reduce costs while minimizing disruption.
- The summary employers receive represents days of preparation and analysis.
- The goal is to make a complicated renewal easier to understand and evaluate.
About the Author
For more than three decades, Ted Stevenot has helped Ohio small businesses evaluate employee benefits as a partner at McCarthy Stevenot Agency, Inc.
He writes the Broker’s Desk series to document the real-world decisions, conversations, and observations that come from helping Ohio employers navigate health insurance renewals and employee benefits.
Protecting Client Privacy
Client names, identifying details, and certain facts have been modified or omitted to protect client confidentiality. The situations described reflect real-world experience, but no post is intended to identify a specific employer.
If you’d like to explore the renewal process in more detail, these guides provide additional context.
Related Resources
- Why Small Businesses Should Build a Health Insurance Renewal System
- Health Insurance Prescreen for Ohio Small Businesses
- How Much Does Small Business Health Insurance Cost in Ohio?
- Ohio Small Business Health Insurance Guide
Disclaimer
Broker’s Desk is a series of observations from more than three decades of helping Ohio employers navigate health insurance. Some articles explain a process. Others tell the stories behind the work. All are intended to help employers understand how experienced brokers think through real-world situations—not to suggest there is one right answer for every employer.