01
Group medical
Fully insured and level-funded, HMO through PPO, across the carriers writing small group in each of the three states.
How we market medical →Two to fifty employees · Washington, Oregon, Idaho
Your renewal arrives in ninety days. Someone should already be working on it.
Most small companies find out their rates went up when the renewal letter lands, then have three weeks to react. We start ninety days out, market the group properly, and hand your operations lead a decision rather than a scramble.
- We become broker of record — no cost to you, paid by the carrier.
- You get the compliance calendar, not a reminder to build one.
- Open enrollment run by us — meetings, forms, questions, follow-up.
[ hero photo — small business owner and an operations lead at a shared desk with a laptop, Pacific Northwest light · 4/5 ]
Who actually does this today
In a company of eighteen, benefits usually belong to whoever has the least room to say no. That is the person we are here to relieve.
Why small groups get a worse deal
It is rarely the rates. It is the calendar.
A group of two hundred has a benefits manager whose job is this. A group of eighteen has an office manager who also runs payroll, and a renewal packet that arrives six weeks before the effective date.
By the time there is time to look, there is no time to market the group.Carriers need medical questionnaires or claims data, quotes take weeks to come back, and any plan change needs employee communication before the effective date. Six weeks is not enough to do that well, so most small groups renew as-is and absorb the increase.
Ninety days is enough. That is most of what we sell — not access to better rates, but the calendar discipline to actually go and get them.
The ninety days
What happens, and when.
This is the schedule we run for every group. You see it up front so you know what is being asked of you and when.
Day 90
Three months out
Data and census
We collect the employee census, current plan documents, and — where the carrier allows it — claims experience or a completed questionnaire. This is the only step that needs real time from you, and it is about ninety minutes.
Day 75
Market
Out to carriers
The group goes to every appointed carrier that will write your size and industry, with a written summary of the risk rather than a bare census. Quotes come back over two to three weeks.
Day 50
Decide
Side-by-side and a recommendation
Every quote laid out against your current plan, with the contribution split modelled and the network differences flagged. We tell you which we would choose and why — and when the answer is to stay put, we say that.
Day 30
Communicate
Employee meetings and materials
We run the open enrollment meetings — in person, on video, or both — and produce the summary employees actually read. Your managers do not have to explain a deductible to anyone.
Day 0
Effective
Enrollment complete, then service
Cards issued, payroll deductions confirmed, and a named person your employees can call about a claim. We stay on the account year-round, not only at renewal.
What we place
Six lines, one renewal calendar.
Splitting benefits across three brokers means three renewal dates and three sets of paperwork. We hold the whole programme so nothing falls between two of them.
02
Dental & vision
The lines employees notice most relative to what they cost. Frequently the cheapest way to improve how a package feels.
Ancillary lines →03
Life & AD&D
Basic group life at a modest multiple of salary, with voluntary buy-up. Inexpensive, and the line most often missing entirely.
Ancillary lines →04
Disability
Short and long term. In Washington this sits alongside state paid leave, and the interaction is worth getting right rather than duplicating cover.
Ancillary lines →05
Pre-tax accounts
HSA, FSA and dependent care, and the plan documents that have to exist for them. Usually paired with a high-deductible medical plan.
With medical →06
Compliance support
The notices, filings and deadlines that attach to offering a plan at all. Not legal advice — a calendar and a checklist.
The calendar →Who we work with
Four situations that bring companies to us.
First plan ever
Grown past the point where no benefits is tenable for hiring. Needs the whole thing built, including the documents nobody mentions.
Start early
Renewal shock
A double-digit increase with weeks to respond. We can often help this year and will certainly change next year's calendar.
Call now, not later
Crossing fifty
Approaching the applicable-large-employer threshold changes what you must offer and what you must report. Plan a year ahead.
Threshold planning
Multi-state hiring
Remote staff across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Networks and state leave rules differ; a single-state plan design starts to leak.
Three-state design
How we are paid
Commission, disclosed in writing, before you appoint us.
Carriers pay us a commission built into the premium. Your rates are not higher for using a broker — small-group premiums are filed with the state and are the same whether you buy direct, through us, or through anyone else.
You will see the number. We set out expected compensation in the service agreement before you sign a broker-of-record letter, and again at each renewal. Where a fee arrangement makes more sense than commission — usually on consulting-only work — we quote it plainly.
More about the firmWhat we are not
Not a law firm
We keep a compliance calendar. We do not give legal advice, and where a question needs counsel we say so and will work with yours.
Not an accountant
Pre-tax accounts have tax consequences for the company and for employees. Those belong to your CPA.
Not a third-party administrator
We do not adjudicate claims or hold plan assets. We place coverage and advocate when something goes wrong.
Send us your current plan documents.
We will tell you what your renewal is likely to do and whether the group is worth marketing. No charge, and no broker-of-record letter until you have seen the numbers.