Category: Broker’s Desk

Every health insurance broker says they provide great service.

The problem is, there’s no way to prove it in advance.

You can read Google reviews. You can ask for references. You can look at awards and credentials.

But you really don’t know.

Not until something goes wrong.

When a Health Insurance Broker Is Really Tested

One afternoon an employer called our office.

“Mike, I’ve got an employee here with me. We need to talk.”

The employee had just been diagnosed with cancer. Her doctor had recommended a treatment, but the insurance company had denied it.

She was scared.

She was frustrated.

She didn’t know what to do next.

Mike listened.

He told her we’d figure out exactly why it had been denied. If the insurance company was correct, we’d explain it. If there was an opportunity to appeal or ask for an exception, we’d pursue it.

Then he hung up the phone and went to work.

I’ve watched Mike do this for years.

He knows who to call. He knows how to explain the situation. He knows when to push, when to ask, and when not to accept the first answer.

Sometimes the decision changes.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

One thing always stays the same.

The client knows someone is standing beside them.

Years ago there was another case involving an infant who was ready to leave the hospital but needed approval for equipment to safely go home. The equipment cost very little compared to the hospital stay that continued while everyone waited for an answer.

Mike wouldn’t let it go.

He kept working the phones until someone finally looked at the situation as a whole instead of simply processing another request.

People ask us from time to time what makes our agency different.

Honestly, I don’t think it’s something you can explain with a list of services.

It’s this.

It’s what happens on the day a client calls with bad news.

I’ve often thought that’s the hardest part about talking about service.

Before someone becomes a client, it’s just a promise.

After thirty-five years, I know what happens when those difficult calls come in.

I’ve seen Mike answer them.

I’ve seen him advocate for people who needed someone in their corner.

And I’ve learned that real service isn’t measured by how smoothly things go when life is easy.

It’s measured by who stands beside you when life isn’t.

At a Glance

• You often learn the value of your insurance broker when something unexpected happens.
• Helping clients navigate difficult claim situations is part of the work behind employee benefits.
• Advocacy can include understanding denials, asking questions, and pursuing available appeal options.
• Some situations have positive outcomes, while others do not, but clients deserve clear guidance throughout the process.
• Real service is measured by how people are supported when challenges arise.

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 learn more about health insurance renewals and employee benefits, these guides provide additional context.

Related Resources

• Why Small Businesses Should Build a Health Insurance Renewal System
• Health Insurance Prescreen for Ohio Small Businesses
• Case Study: Reducing a 22% Renewal
• Ohio Small Business Health Insurance Guide
• Broker’s Desk: Real-World Stories from Ohio Small Business Health Insurance

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.

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.

One of the things people never see is the amount of noise inside a health insurance renewal.

Every carrier has its own proposal.

Every carrier has its own plans.

Every year those plans change.

Some carriers have dozens of options.

Honestly, most people have no chance.

That’s not because they aren’t smart. It’s because these proposals weren’t written for employers. These proposals weren’t written for employers. They were written by actuaries, product managers, and insurance companies trying to offer every possible variation of coverage.

Our job is to make sense of it.

Reducing Complexity in a Health Insurance Renewal

When a renewal comes in, I don’t just forward the proposal to the client.

I start pulling it apart.

I have a spreadsheet I’ve built over many years. Every time I come across a plan that’s actually relevant, I save it. Over time it’s become a library of plans that lets me compare things much more quickly.

I’m not trying to summarize everything.

I’m trying to surface the things employers actually care about.

• The deductible.
• The out-of-pocket maximum.
• Office visit copays.
• Prescription drug copays.
• Coinsurance.

The proposal may be fifty pages.

My spreadsheet fits on one page.

That’s intentional.

I’m trying to pull the signal out of the noise.

The other thing I’m thinking about is disruption.

A lot of people assume the goal is to find the cheapest plan.

It isn’t.

If employees have spent years learning how to use a particular type of plan, I don’t want to throw that away just to save a little more money.

I’m looking for the point where the savings become meaningful without unnecessarily changing how people receive care.

Sometimes we find that point with the current carrier.

Sometimes we don’t.

That’s when we begin looking outside the renewal.

But the first step is always the same.

Reduce the complexity.

Then make the decision.

That’s a much better way to compare health insurance than trying to digest fifty pages of insurance language on your own.

At a Glance

• Most health insurance renewals contain far more information than employers need to make a decision.
• My first step is reducing dozens of pages into a simple comparison.
• I focus on the plan details that affect employees most often.
• The goal isn’t simply finding the lowest premium. It’s balancing savings with unnecessary disruption.
• Simplifying the renewal makes better decisions possible.

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.

Every health insurance renewal follows a process, whether the employer realizes it or not.

When Mike McCarthy and I started our agency, we had a pretty simple idea.

We wanted to give small employers the kind of attention that large employers usually receive.

That idea has never really changed.

Whether a company has two employees or one hundred, the renewal goes through the same process.

• We review it.
• We build the summary spreadsheet.
• We look for reasonable alternatives.
• If it makes sense to shop the market, we open that door too.

The funny thing is, a lot of employers probably don’t even realize they have a renewal system.

They just know that every year a renewal email shows up, we explain what happened, and we help them decide what to do next.

Behind the scenes, though, it’s the same process every time.

Why We Built It This Way

I’ve talked with other brokers over the years who do things differently.

Some wait to see if the employer calls after receiving the renewal.

Some charge separately to review the market or evaluate additional options.

I understand why.

There’s real work involved.

We just made a different decision.

To me, reviewing the renewal and helping a client understand their options isn’t an extra service.

It’s the job.

I’ve known too many small business owners over the years.

A lot of them are working incredibly hard just to keep health insurance available for their employees. Some are hanging on by their fingernails.

I’ve never been very excited about sending them another invoice just so we can help them evaluate their renewal.

I’d rather spend my time helping them make a good decision.

Maybe that’s a little old-fashioned.

It’s just how we’ve always believed this business should work.

When we talk about service, we’re not just talking about being friendly or returning phone calls quickly.

Those things matter.

But real service is having a system that’s there for every client, every renewal, every year.

Whether the group has two employees or one hundred.

That’s the promise we made when we started the agency.

It’s still the one we’re trying to keep.

At a Glance

• Every renewal receives the same review process.
• Small employers receive the same attention as larger groups.
• We don’t view renewal analysis as an extra service.
• Our goal is to help employers make informed decisions.
• Service begins long before the phone rings.

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.

Looking for a deeper explanation of the renewal process? 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.

A health insurance renewal crossed my desk this week with a 28% increase.

That’s never welcome news.

The easy assumption is that another insurance company must have a better answer.

That wasn’t where I started.

The goal of Broker’s Desk is to explain how experienced brokers evaluate real-world situations—not to suggest there is one right answer for every employer.

The first thing I did was compare the renewal with other plan options from the same carrier. This is the same approach I describe in our Health Insurance Renewal System.

Before looking outside the current plan, I wanted to answer a simple question.

Could we reduce the increase without asking employees to learn an entirely new plan or provider network?

Here’s an anonymized comparison of the renewal and one alternative we evaluated before looking outside the current carrier.

Benefit	Renewal Plan	Option A
Individual Deductible	$3,400	$3,400
Family Deductible	$6,800	$6,800
Coinsurance	100%	80%
Individual Out-of-Pocket Maximum	$7,000	$7,000
Family Out-of-Pocket Maximum	$14,000	$14,000
Office Visit Primary/Specialist	100% after deductible	80% after deductible
Prescription Drugs	Level 1 Rx after deductible	Level 1 Rx after deductible
Estimated Monthly Medical Premium	$1,115.30 (+28.05%)	$964.02 (+10.8%)

An anonymized comparison showing how a modest coinsurance change affected the renewal increase while keeping the same deductible.

One option kept the deductible the same while introducing 80/20 coinsurance.

That one change reduced the projected increase from 28% to approximately 11%.

The employer may still decide to look at other options.

That’s perfectly reasonable.

The difference is that we’re making that decision after understanding what the current carrier has to offer, not before.

Instead of reacting to a 28% increase, they’re looking at an increase that’s much closer to 10%.

I wasn’t trying to decide whether another carrier had a better answer yet. First I wanted to understand what the current carrier could offer.

I was trying to understand whether shopping was necessary.

Sometimes a modest change to the current plan solves the problem.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

If it doesn’t—or if there’s reason to believe another carrier starts from a fundamentally different place—that’s when a health insurance prescreen becomes valuable. At that point, we’re comparing alternatives from a position of understanding instead of reacting to the first number we saw.

We’ll see where this employer ultimately decides to go.

At a Glance

• A large health insurance renewal doesn’t automatically require changing carriers.
• Compare available options before assuming the market has a better answer.
• Small plan changes can sometimes substantially reduce an increase.
• Shopping the market is one option—not the first step.
• Understanding the renewal leads to better decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I always change carriers after a health insurance renewal?

Not necessarily. Sometimes your current carrier offers alternative plans that reduce the increase while preserving much of your existing coverage.

Why compare plans from the same carrier first?

It helps determine whether a modest plan adjustment can solve the problem before introducing the additional disruption of changing carriers.

When does a health insurance prescreen make sense?

A prescreen becomes especially valuable when reasonable adjustments to the current plan don’t produce an acceptable result or when an employer wants to evaluate broader market options.

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 share practical observations from real health insurance renewals and employee benefits decisions.

Protecting Our Clients’ 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.

Looking for a deeper explanation of the renewal process? 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 articles are educational and based on real-world situations encountered in our practice. Client names and identifying details have been changed or omitted to protect confidentiality. Because every employer’s circumstances are unique, these articles should not be considered legal, tax, or insurance advice for any specific situation.

A health insurance renewal crossed my desk this week with a 42% increase.

When employers see a number like that, the natural reaction is to start getting quotes.

That wasn’t my first step.

The first thing I did was pull the renewal apart and compare the options that were already available from the current carrier.

Before looking anywhere else, I wanted to see whether there was a reasonable way to bring the increase down without changing carriers or making major changes to the plan.

As I reviewed the renewal, I noticed something else.

This was a very small group, and one employee had stayed on the employer’s health plan after turning 65 because a younger spouse was still covered under the group plan.

Now the spouse had also reached Medicare eligibility.

Before I spent much time comparing deductibles and coinsurance, I wanted to answer a different question.

Looking Beyond the Premium

Should these two individuals remain on the group health plan at all?

If they moved to Medicare, the structure of the group would change immediately.

I wanted to answer that question before deciding whether comparing more health plans even made sense.

Only after looking at that bigger question did I go back to comparing plan options.

Comparing the Available Options

Here’s an example of the type of comparison I put together.

Benefit	Renewal Plan	Option A	Option B
Individual Deductible	$2,500	$3,000	$5,000
Family Deductible	$5,000	$6,000	$10,000
Coinsurance	100%	80%	100%
Individual Out-of-Pocket Maximum	$7,000	$8,000	$8,000
Family Out-of-Pocket Maximum	$14,000	$16,000	$16,000
Office Visit Primary/Specialist	$30/$60	$30/$60	$30/$60
Prescription Drugs	Rx Level 1	Rx Level 1	Level 1 Rx
Estimated Monthly Medical Premium	$4,191.59 (+42%)	$3,642.59 (+23.4%)	$3,686.08 (+24.87%)

An anonymized comparison showing how we evaluated renewal options before making any recommendation.

What Happens Next?

I wasn’t looking for the cheapest option.

It was about seeing whether modest adjustments to the current plan could reduce the increase while preserving as much of the existing coverage as possible.

In this case, changing the deductible and coinsurance reduced the projected increase substantially while keeping the same carrier.

That may or may not be the direction this employer ultimately chooses.

They may decide to stay with the renewal.

They may adjust the current plan.

They may decide it’s time to complete a health insurance prescreen and look more broadly.

The important part is that those decisions come after understanding the renewal, not before.

Sometimes the premium is the story.

Sometimes it isn’t.

Sometimes opening the renewal tells you something about the people covered by the plan that is even more important than the premium itself.

We’ll see where this one ultimately lands.

At a Glance

Every renewal is different. Broker’s Desk shares real situations to explain the evaluation process, not to suggest there is one right answer for every employer.

• A large renewal doesn’t automatically mean it’s time to change carriers.
• The first step is understanding the renewal before shopping.
• Changes in the makeup of a small group can be just as important as premium.
• Modest plan adjustments sometimes reduce increases while preserving coverage.
• Every renewal deserves a thoughtful review before broader market shopping begins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Medicare eligibility affect a small business health insurance renewal?

Yes. When employees or covered spouses become eligible for Medicare, it can change the structure of a small employer’s health plan and create options that didn’t previously exist.

Should every large renewal lead to shopping the market?

Not necessarily. Sometimes the better first step is understanding the renewal and evaluating whether reasonable plan adjustments or structural changes make sense before requesting quotes.

Can staying with the same insurance carrier reduce a renewal increase?

Sometimes. Different plan options from the same carrier may reduce the increase while preserving much of the coverage employees already know.

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 share practical observations from real health insurance renewals and employee benefits decisions.

Protecting Our Clients’ 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.

Looking for a deeper explanation of the renewal process? 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 articles are educational and based on real-world situations encountered in our practice. Client names and identifying details have been changed or omitted to protect confidentiality. Because every employer’s circumstances are unique, these articles should not be considered legal, tax, or insurance advice for any specific situation.

Every year, an employer opens a small business health insurance renewal and sees a number they weren’t expecting.

Sometimes it’s manageable.

Sometimes it’s 25%.

Sometimes it’s much more.

The first reaction is often:

“We need to start getting quotes.”

Interestingly, that’s usually not my first step.

After more than 30 years helping Ohio small businesses evaluate health insurance renewals, I’ve found it’s better to understand the renewal before deciding whether it’s time to replace it.

The goal of Broker’s Desk is to explain how experienced brokers evaluate real-world situations—not to suggest there is one right answer for every employer.

Here’s what the first hour usually looks like.  While every renewal is different, the process of evaluating one is surprisingly consistent.

1. Break the Health Insurance Renewal Apart

The first thing I do is pull the renewal apart and compare the benefits side by side.

I’m looking beyond the premium to understand what changed and whether those changes justify the increase.

Insert comparison table image here

Caption: An anonymized comparison showing how we evaluate renewal options before making any recommendation.

2. Look for the Least Disruptive Solution

I’m not trying to find the cheapest plan.

I’m trying to preserve as much of what employees already know and value as possible while bringing the renewal back under control.

Before considering another carrier, I’ll often evaluate whether modest adjustments to the current plan are enough to improve the renewal, such as:

• A modest change in coinsurance.
• A slightly higher deductible.
• A different out-of-pocket maximum.
• Another plan from the same carrier with similar benefits.

Sometimes a relatively small adjustment is enough to bring a renewal back into a range the employer is more comfortable accepting.

3. Ask the Bigger Question

Only after we’ve explored those possibilities do we ask:

Is it time to look beyond the current plan?

Sometimes the answer is yes.

Sometimes it isn’t.

That’s the point where we decide whether a broader market review or health insurance prescreen is worthwhile.

Every Renewal Starts a Conversation

No two employers are exactly alike.

The right answer depends on the business, the employees, and the goals of the employer.

That’s why I think of a renewal as the beginning of a conversation rather than the end of one.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll share a few anonymized renewal examples that show how this process works in practice.

At a Glance

• Renewals deserve analysis before shopping.
• We look for the least disruptive way to control costs.
• Premium is only one part of the decision.
• Structural changes can matter as much as plan changes.
• Every employer’s situation is unique.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I get quotes immediately after receiving a health insurance renewal?

Not necessarily. Before requesting quotes, it’s often helpful to understand exactly what changed and whether modest adjustments to the current plan could improve the renewal.

Does every renewal require changing insurance carriers?

No. In many cases, employers choose to remain with their current carrier after evaluating plan options that better balance premiums, benefits, and disruption.

When should a small business consider a health insurance prescreen?

A prescreen is often worthwhile when reasonable plan adjustments don’t produce an acceptable outcome or when an employer wants to evaluate broader market options before making a renewal decision.

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 share practical observations from real health insurance renewals and employee benefits decisions.

Protecting Our Client’s 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.

Looking for a deeper explanation of the renewal process? 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 articles are educational and based on real-world situations encountered in our practice. Client names and identifying details have been changed or omitted to protect confidentiality. Because every employer’s circumstances are unique, these articles should not be considered legal, tax, or insurance advice for any specific situation.