BIH Endorses Benefitra’s Health Insurance Renewal Simulator
Business Insurance Health has partnered with Benefitra to introduce its health insurance renewal simulator. BIH has vetted the solution and endorses and promotes it as a practical starting point for employers that want to look beyond the next renewal. Select your state and employee count to see modeled five-year savings and the odds that each available funding path will cost less than staying fully insured. It takes two clicks.
What employers can learn quickly
Benefitra created the simulator by combining the analytics behind its employer calculators into one five-year health insurance renewal simulator. The result is Benefitra’s most advanced analysis within its own employer tool set. It compares funding paths under the same modeled claims scenarios and shows potential savings, downside ranges, and probabilities. Results are estimates, not quotes or guarantees.
Why BIH is endorsing Benefitra’s tool
A renewal quote answers one narrow question: what will the current arrangement cost next year? Employers often need a wider view before deciding whether to renew, negotiate, or examine another funding structure.
Benefitra’s simulator widens that view. It compares paths such as fully-insured, PEO, level-funded or self-funded, self-funded captive, and Taft-Hartley where the path is shown as available in the tool. It models each option across repeated claims scenarios instead of presenting one favorable projection as if it were certain.
Benefitra developed the tool by combining the analytics from its employer calculators into one five-year simulator. BIH did not develop or own it. We have vetted the solution, approve it, promote it, and endorse its use as an educational planning tool before a detailed funding review.
That distinction matters. The simulator can make a funding conversation more specific. It is intended for planning and does not replace underwriting, a carrier proposal, plan documents, legal review, advice from a health care professional, or a plan-specific review based on an employer’s complete data.
See your state analysis in two clicks
Explore your state’s savings estimate.
- Select your state.
- Select the employee count closest to your enrolled group.
The preview then shows five-year median savings and the modeled chance that each displayed funding path will beat fully-insured coverage. It also identifies the path with the highest modeled five-year median for that state and group size.
The “two clicks” promise applies to this state and employee count preview. It does not mean the map produces a separate result for years one, two, three, four, and five. The linked Benefitra state analysis adds day one cost context, five-year median savings, modeled odds, and the 5th, 25th, 75th, and 95th percentile outcomes. Benefitra’s full simulator can model review periods from one through five years and lets an employer replace defaults with its own premium, claims, census, renewal, and quote information.
What the modeled funding figures mean
The most useful number is not always the largest savings figure. Employers should read three kinds of output together.
Median savings
Median savings is the middle outcome across the modeled runs. Half of the simulations produced savings above that amount and half produced savings below it. It is a planning center point, not a promised result.
Odds of savings
The odds show how often a funding path finished below the fully-insured comparison over the selected period. A path can have an attractive median and still lose in a meaningful share of scenarios. That is why probability belongs beside the dollar estimate.
Percentile range
The percentile values show how widely results changed across the simulations. The 5th percentile reflects a difficult modeled outcome. The 95th percentile reflects a much more favorable one. The distance between them helps a finance team see variability that a single average would hide.
Benefitra’s published methodology says the engine runs thousands of five-year claims paths and prices the funding alternatives against the same underlying claims experience. It uses a three-part claims model for routine spending, chronic variation, and catastrophic claims. It also carries certain high-cost conditions into later years to reflect the fact that some claims do not end at the renewal date.
That structure supports a better question than “Which option is cheapest?” The better question is “Which option has a cost range, projected expenses, and downside we can accept?”
A modeled Massachusetts example
Here is one example from the live BIH map and the Benefitra analysis for a Massachusetts employer with 70 employees, recorded on September 16, 2026.
The inputs were Massachusetts and 70 enrolled employees. The state page’s illustrative profile used an average age of about 42, average health, a state-adjusted premium, and approximately 70 enrolled employees. It compared each displayed path as a modeled health insurance plan against a fully-insured baseline monthly premium of about $1,080 per employee and ran 2,000 Monte Carlo simulations.
For that modeled profile, the page displayed:
- Level-funded coverage with median five-year savings of $430,350 and an 89 percent chance of beating fully-insured coverage
- A self-funded captive with median five-year savings of $583,602 and a 99 percent chance of beating fully-insured coverage
- Taft-Hartley with median five-year savings of $1,330,910 and a 100 percent modeled frequency of beating fully-insured coverage in these simulation runs
- PEO with median five-year savings of negative $80,938 and a 47 percent chance of beating fully-insured coverage
This is a modeled example, not a recommendation, client result, quote, or guarantee. A 100 percent result means that option beat the comparison in the recorded simulation runs. It does not make future savings certain. The example shows why employers should read probability and range together and why not every alternative saves money in every market or group profile.
Looking past one renewal changes the discussion
The latest KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey found that average family premiums rose 6 percent in 2025 and 26 percent over five years. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality separately reported increases in private employer premiums and deductibles in its 2008 through 2024 analysis.
Those sources establish a useful planning point. Employer plan costs can compound even though a national average cannot predict any one employer’s renewal. A five-year model should therefore show both cumulative funding cost and uncertainty. Benefitra’s range and probability outputs add that risk view.
Looking beyond the next renewal can help an employer ask:
- Does a lower starting cost remain lower over five years?
- How much downside appears in an adverse claims run?
- Is the possible saving large enough to justify a change in administration or retained risk?
- Which assumptions come from our data and which services are covered under each option?
- What information should we request before comparing actual proposals?
These questions are useful even when the employer ultimately keeps its current funding arrangement.
State and group size can change the result
Health insurance funding is not priced under one national rule. State regulation, group size, rating method, and available arrangements can change the comparison.
For example, CMS explains that individual and small group premiums may vary based on age within a 3 to 1 adult ratio, tobacco use within a 1.5 to 1 ratio, family size, and geography, subject to state variations. A self-funded plan responds differently because the employer bears some or all claims risk. The U.S. Department of Labor explains that stop-loss insurance can limit liability above specific or aggregate attachment points. Health insurance coverage can also vary by state, by plans sold in a market, and by whether the arrangement is fully insured or self-funded.
This is why “select your state” is not a cosmetic step. The state and employee count help determine the rules and funding paths that the analysis applies. Employers should still confirm eligibility, stop-loss terms, network access, contract obligations, and state requirements before acting.
Employers can also review verified analyses for California, Texas, and Florida. Each link opens the 70-employee result for that state.
Use the simulator to prepare for a funding discussion
The quick map preview is useful for orientation. The full simulator becomes more useful as an employer replaces defaults with real information and compares projected employer costs across funding options.
Bring the following to a funding review when available:
- Current funding arrangement
- Enrolled employee count
- Current premium stated per employee per month or as a total, including the monthly premium
- Recent renewal increase
- Paid claims or loss ratio
- Workforce census without names
- High-cost claimant information prepared in an appropriate, privacy-protective format
- Stop-loss terms and any quotes already received
- Expected headcount changes over the next five years
Benefitra labels default-derived figures as modeled and allows the user to edit many assumptions. Its methodology page also explains how missing data is handled. Better inputs can make the illustration more relevant, but they do not turn it into a binding quote.
Use the output to frame a conversation, not end one. Ask an advisor or bidder to explain why an actual proposal differs from the model, which risks remain with the employer, what happens in a poor claims year, and which savings depend on operational changes after implementation.
What the simulator cannot promise
No simulator can know which employees will need costly care, how provider prices will change, what a carrier will quote, or whether an employer will qualify for a particular arrangement.
The results cannot promise:
- A renewal rate
- Guaranteed savings
- Eligibility for every funding path
- A specific underwriting decision
- The same result after changing census, claims, plan design, network, or stop-loss terms
- Legal, tax, actuarial, or fiduciary advice
The model is most valuable when its assumptions are visible and tested against real proposals. A result that changes sharply after one assumption changes is a reason to investigate, not a reason to hide the sensitivity.
Start with your state
Business Insurance Health endorses Benefitra’s health insurance renewal simulator because it gives employers a clearer way to examine the next renewal in a longer financial context. It is Benefitra’s most advanced analysis within its employer calculator suite, and it makes the first step simple.
Select your state. Choose your employee count. See your modeled five-year savings and odds in two clicks. Then use the full analysis and your own data to prepare a better funding discussion.
Explore your state’s savings estimate
Frequently asked questions
What is a health insurance renewal simulator?
A health insurance renewal simulator models how employer health plan costs could develop under different assumptions and funding arrangements. Benefitra’s tool runs repeated claims scenarios and reports estimates, ranges, and probabilities rather than one guaranteed forecast.
Can I really see health plan savings in two clicks?
Yes. Select a state and an employee count. The preview shows modeled five-year median savings and odds for the displayed funding paths. Opening the linked state analysis or entering company data into the full simulator requires additional steps.
Does the BIH map show savings for every year from one through five?
No. The two click BIH preview focuses on five-year odds and median savings. The linked state page adds day one and five-year context. Benefitra’s full simulator supports review periods from one through five years.
Are the savings estimates guaranteed?
No. They are modeled estimates. Actual costs depend on underwriting, claims, workforce demographics, plan design, network, contracts, stop-loss terms, regulation, and future medical costs.
Did BIH create the simulator?
No. Benefitra created the simulator by combining analytics from its calculators into a five-year health insurance renewal simulator. BIH has vetted the solution, approves it, promotes it, and endorses it as an educational planning resource.
