Before You Renew: 5 Questions to Ask About Your Benefits This Open Enrollment Season

Every fall, a lot of business owners and nonprofit leaders get the same email from their benefits broker: here's your renewal, and here's the new price. Too many of them simply sign. I've been on the other side of that email, and I can tell you the renewal isn't a take-it-or-leave-it offer.

In my last role, I redesigned our benefits strategy and avoided a proposed 47% cost increase while keeping coverage competitive for our employees. The biggest thing it taught me is that the first number you're handed is rarely the only option. Asking questions and shopping your options every year, not just when something goes wrong, is what made the difference. Here are the five questions I'd ask before you say yes to anything.

1. What exactly is driving the increase?

Ask for the rate breakdown, not just the new total. Is it claims activity, a change in your group, or a broker or carrier decision? You can't push back on something you don't understand.

2. Have we looked at alternatives?

Staying with your current carrier may still be the right call, but you should know that from comparison, not habit. Ask your broker what other options exist and what each would mean for cost and coverage.

3. Are we looking at plan design or only the premium?

A lower premium can hide a higher deductible or a narrower network. Consider how the plan actually works for your employees, and how the cost is split between the company and the people on the plan.

4. When will employees hear about it, and in what words?

The best plan loses its value if no one understands it. Plan to share the changes early, in plain language, with time for questions. What worked for me was splitting open enrollment into small virtual sessions of no more than 15 people each. Because people could join from anywhere, spouses and partners could listen in and hear the information firsthand, which made it much easier for families to make enrollment decisions together.

5. Is the paperwork behind it right?

Employee records, deductions, and enrollment data all need to match before the new plan year starts. Errors here become payroll corrections and frustrated employees in January.

Where to start

You don't have to do all of this alone. At BEKS, we help small businesses, nonprofits, and private schools with benefits administration, payroll coordination, and renewal preparation. If open enrollment is coming up and you'd like a second set of eyes, I'd be glad to talk.

This post is general information, not legal, tax, or insurance advice.