Renewal season is the single most important window in your benefits year. It’s when the broker relationship either demonstrates its value or quietly costs you money. Unfortunately, most employers walk into renewal meetings without a clear sense of what to expect from their broker, and walk out with a signed renewal without ever testing whether they got a good deal.
These five questions surface specific information that distinguishes a broker who’s earning their compensation from one who’s coasting on inertia.
1. “What is your exact compensation on my plan?”
The most important question, and the one most brokers hope you don’t ask.
You want a specific number, in writing. A vague answer like “around the usual range” or “commissions range from X to Y” is not enough. The kind of answer to look for is one with the actual percentage and dollar amount earned on your specific account in the most recent year, plus any override bonuses or contingent commissions.
If the broker can’t or won’t give you that level of detail, treat it as a red flag. A broker who’s confident in the value they deliver is comfortable telling you what they earn.
Why this matters:
- You can’t evaluate a broker’s recommendations if you don’t understand their financial incentives
- Transparency is a minimum professional standard
- If the broker’s compensation rises when your premium rises, you need to know that when weighing advice
For deeper background on how commission structures typically work, see How Health Insurance Broker Commissions Work.
2. “What do level-funded and self-funded alternatives cost for my group?”
The default pattern is for brokers to present a fully-insured renewal quote (sometimes with quotes from two or three fully-insured carriers). Level-funded and self-funded quotes, which consistently produce lower costs for healthy groups, are absent unless the employer specifically demands them.
Ask for:
- At least one level-funded quote (if your group is 10+ employees)
- At least one self-funded / TPA quote (if your group is 25+ employees)
- A side-by-side comparison of total expected cost across all three structures
A broker who says “alternative structures aren’t right for businesses your size” without specifics is almost always wrong. Level-funded plans are routinely placed with groups as small as 10 employees. If your broker isn’t willing to get these quotes, the right response is to work with one who will.
For the numbers that should inform this conversation, see The 3 Types of Employer Health Plans and Level-Funded Health Plans Explained.
3. “Can you share my claims data for the past 12–24 months?”
Your claims data is, in principle, yours. In a fully-insured plan, the carrier holds it, but employers can request at least summary-level reporting: monthly claims totals, loss ratio, large-claimant counts, pharmacy spend breakdowns.
Ask for:
- Monthly claims total vs. premium (to derive loss ratio)
- Large-claimant summary (number of claims exceeding defined dollar thresholds for the year)
- Top 5 cost categories
- Pharmacy spend by generic/brand/specialty
A broker who responds with “the carrier doesn’t share that with small groups” is accepting a false answer. Many carriers do share summary data upon request. If your carrier genuinely won’t share, that’s itself worth knowing, and a reason to consider a plan structure that provides data access as a standard feature.
Claims Data: What You Should Be Seeing walks through what this reporting should look like.
4. “What was the carrier’s original renewal proposal, and how did we negotiate it?”
Renewal negotiation is one of the main things you’re paying a broker to do. Testing whether it actually happened is straightforward: ask what the carrier first proposed and what changed after negotiation.
Good answers sound like:
- “The carrier initially proposed a higher renewal increase. I pushed back on the claims experience interpretation and got them to reduce it. Here’s the email thread.”
- “We presented competitive quotes from other carriers at lower numbers, which gave us leverage. The final renewal came in below the initial proposal.”
- “The original proposal included a laser on one of your employees. We negotiated that out.”
Weak or non-answers sound like:
- “They held firm on the renewal number.”
- “It was just what the market is doing.”
- “I explored but nothing moved.”
A broker who isn’t negotiating isn’t earning their fee. A broker who can walk you through the specific negotiation wins is likely doing real work.
5. “What proactive ideas do you have for reducing my costs this year?”
The default broker engagement is reactive: they wait for renewal, they quote the incumbent plus a few competitors, and they wait for your signature. A broker worth keeping brings unprompted ideas throughout the year.
Good signals:
- Suggestions about plan design changes based on your claims data
- Pharmacy optimization opportunities
- Stop-loss right-sizing recommendations
- Wellness program ideas tied to measurable ROI
- Awareness of new products in the market that might fit your group
- Compliance updates flagged proactively
Weak signals:
- “Well, we could raise the deductible to save money.”
- “I’d have to look into what options are out there.”
- “Most of our clients don’t change much year to year.”
A broker who only engages at renewal isn’t a strategic partner. At best, they’re a competent transaction processor. At most mid-sized employers, a strategic partner pays for themselves multiple times over through ideas you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Transactional Broker vs. Year-Round Partner unpacks this distinction in more depth.
How to use these questions
Send them to your broker a few weeks before your renewal meeting, in writing, with a request for written responses. This matters because:
- Written responses are harder to dodge than conversational ones
- You have a record for comparison with next year
- It signals that you’re taking the renewal seriously and expect rigor
A broker who engages substantively with all five questions is probably worth keeping. A broker who gives vague or deflecting answers on multiple questions is probably costing you money.
If you want a structured way to compare your options after getting answers, download The Rate Shock Survival Guide — it includes renewal scorecards and negotiation templates.
What this means for your next renewal
Most renewal disappointments (big premium increases accepted, alternative structures unexplored, claims data never shared) are the product of a passive broker relationship that never gets challenged. Asking these five questions before renewal creates the opportunity for the broker to prove their value, and gives you the information to make an informed decision either way.
The questions don’t take long to ask. The answers will tell you whether your broker is an asset you should keep or a cost center you should replace.
Want a checklist of renewal questions plus the rest of the playbook? Download The Rate Shock Survival Guide — it bundles the questions, templates, and evaluation frameworks into a single downloadable resource. Get your copy here.