Staying Ahead of Renewal Season

• Know Your Plan Numbers - We all want renewals to come in with no cost increase; however, the reality is that your plan costs typically increase each renewal.  Your medical plan costs will be the largest part of your budget, so work with your broker to know your plan numbers.  Are your claims running higher than normal or lower than normal for your company?  Get a feel for how your plan is running and what the medical trend is for the current year.  Share this information with your Finance team so they are thinking ahead for the next year.  Your company’s tolerance for cost increase may lead you to make plan design changes or go to market to save money for the upcoming year.  Each economic year for a company will be different; knowing your plan numbers and your tolerance for increase will help you think ahead.
  
• Going to Market – Begin thinking about changes you want to make well before renewal season – the sooner the better.  You will probably have a feel for any changes you want to make or anything that you want to stay the same right after the plan year begins.  Additionally, your tolerance for cost increases may play a role in deciding whether or not to go to market.  Openly share this information with your broker and remember that you are all on the same team working towards a successful open enrollment each year. 
  
• The Renewal – Carriers schedule when renewal information will be provided each year.  These renewal release dates depend on many factors, i.e. how long you have been with the vendor, the size of your plan, etc.  Your broker will know the timing of your renewal and will begin reaching out to you to set up meetings.  Although it may feel early to schedule a meeting for a couple of months from now, we all know that some folks have very tight schedules, so the earlier these meeting are on the calendar, the better.
  
• Employee Meetings – As you are thinking about going to market and renewals, also be thinking about employee meetings.  Your broker can help you with the timing of these meetings.  Think about what locations require meetings and the time for your employees to gather for these types of meetings.  Some employers want to keep these meetings as short as possible; some employers like to spend more time on certain topics and prefer longer meetings.  If you think you are going to make plan changes, plan ahead for longer meetings.  It is better to calendar more time and reduce the meeting length at a later time than to add time to an already scheduled meeting.
  
• Communication Materials – Most of the information in employee communication materials is standard and can be started prior to any final decisions.  Work with your broker ahead of time to put together the base materials so the information from your final decisions can be incorporated at a later time.  Think about plan designs that probably won’t change and plan designs that probably will change.  This information will help in the preparation of materials.  Think about communication information that worked or didn’t work for your company in the prior year.  Share this with your broker as the goal is to have a better open enrollment than the prior year.
  
• Decisions – After you have seen the renewal and market results, it is time to make a decision.  Remember, sometimes it is difficult to get everyone you need in the same place at the same time, so plan ahead and calendar time with your decision makers to go over the information you have received and make a decision.  Your broker will help when decisions need to be made in order to finalize communication materials.  Your decision may vary based on each plan you have – sometimes, your decision may simply be to keep the same plan design as prior years.  Decisions will need to be made on several items like final plan designs, employee and employer cost share, and employee contributions.
  
• Internal Timing – Your broker will assist you with the items mentioned above; however, there are other internal items that you will need to plan ahead for.  If you have payroll changes, work with your payroll manager to know when changes for the upcoming year need to be entered.  Timing is important for entering new employee deductions.  Changes to employee deductions can’t be made too early or too late for that first paycheck.  Do you have carrier file feeds?  If there will be any changes to the file feed, plan for at least 8 weeks to make those changes.  As soon as you know there will be changes, get on your payroll vendor’s calendar as they need to schedule staff to make those changes.  Do you make your enrollment changes online?  For a calendar year plan, changes may need to be entered around the winter holidays, so plan ahead for the proper staff to be available to make these entries. Your broker and carriers will provide the proper timing to make any changes.  Remember, like payroll, changes can’t be made too early or too late for employees to receive new ID cards and have their plan changes ready for the first day of the plan year.

There may be even more events that you need to plan for based on your individual company’s needs.  Use the items above to start your plan for a successful renewal and open enrollment season.  Remember, you and your broker are a team with the same goals of having the proper plan design for your company and a successful open enrollment.