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Understanding the Group Benefits Renewal Process

By: Benefits by Design | Thursday June 14, 2018

Updated : Thursday August 5, 2021

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Like many things in life—mortgages, car leases, Spotify memberships—after some time, you have to renew your contract. The same holds for your group insurance plan.

If only the employee benefits renewal process was as easy as clicking “Agree” to another year of Spotify Premium®! However, they are not too complex once you know the process.

The Renewal Process

Four Months From Your Renewal Date

Renewals are completed annually and are necessary to ensure a group benefits plan is appropriately funded based on plan usage. At renewal, Benefits by Design (BBD) Inc. evaluates the claims experience of your organization, trend and inflation, as well as the demographic makeup of employees, including age, gender, occupations, and salary. From there, we put together a proposal with adjustments to your insurance rates to ensure plan sustainability. 

Two Months From Your Renewal Date

Renewal packages are sent out to your Advisor roughly 60 days before your renewal date. 

Your Advisor then reviews the renewal package. There is a lot of information given at renewal, and their goal is to make sure that your benefits plan:

• aligns with your plan philosophy; 
• is sustainable for the future; and that
• the renewal rating aligns with the experience. 

Sometimes, the process continues with your Advisor negotiating your renewal. They’ll take the renewal information and negotiate with us to ensure that you are receiving a sustainable plan and future rate. 

Preparing for Your Meeting with Your Advisor

Finally, your Advisor will meet with you to discuss their findings. They will have recommendations for what you can do to keep your benefits plan sustainable.

 Prepare yourself to discuss your options by: 

• Knowing what your current coverage is. Understand the benefits you have available and the options that take the pressure off of your current plan.
• Understanding what your employees like about your current plan. Excellent customer service can be a huge differentiator in wanting to remain with an existing benefits provider. Or, a bundled service that is being well used (for instance, a telehealth platform) could be the catalyst to stay with a current insurer.
• Reflecting on any changes since your last renewal. Have you added new employees to your benefits plan? This could indicate a need to upgrade an existing employee benefits plan.

Making a Decision and Your Renewal Date 

With the guidance and support of your Advisor, a decision for what to do at renewal is clear. Depending on the direction you decide to go, your Advisor will contact us to inform us of a termination or renewal.

Let us connect you with one from our network of 1,000+ Advisors.

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