How does Service 1st Benefits support my business during open enrollment?

We personally manage the entire open enrollment process — from educating employees to handling enrollment forms and answering plan questions. Our goal is to make open enrollment smooth and stress-free for everyone.

Can employees contact you directly for help?

Yes. Employees can reach out to us anytime for questions about claims, coverage, ID cards, or plan details. We act as your team’s benefits partner, not just your broker.

What size businesses do you work with?

We specialize in serving small and medium-sized businesses, typically ranging from 1–200 employees. If you’re growing or planning to expand, we help scale your benefits as your team grows.

Do you handle communication with insurance carriers for us?

Absolutely. We take care of claims issues, employee changes, renewals, and any carrier communication so you don’t have to spend hours on hold.

Do you offer voluntary or supplemental benefits?

Yes. We can provide optional add-ons like disability, accident, or critical illness insurance to enhance your benefits package at little or no cost to the employer.

What types of group benefits do you offer?

We provide comprehensive group health, dental, vision, and life insurance options for small and medium-sized businesses. We help you compare plans, handle enrollment, and manage carrier communication.

What information do you need to provide a quote?

We typically need: Number of employees Basic employee census (age, gender, ZIP code) Current plan (if applicable) Desired benefits or coverage goals We keep the process as simple as possible.

Do you charge fees for your services?

No. Our services — including plan comparison, open enrollment, and year-round support — are provided at no additional cost to your business.

Level-Funded Health Plans: A Lower-Cost Option for Oklahoma Small Businesses

Charlie Hopgood
5 days ago
2 min read

Most small business owners in Oklahoma have never heard of a level-funded plan. That's not an accident — carriers and big brokers make more selling you a standard fully-insured plan. But for the right group, level-funded coverage is one of the most effective ways to lower costs without cutting benefits.

What a level-funded plan actually is

With a traditional fully-insured plan, you pay a fixed premium to the carrier every month, and the carrier absorbs all the claims risk. With a level-funded plan, you're technically self-funding your claims, but you pay a predictable, level monthly amount that covers expected claims, administrative costs, and stop-loss insurance that caps your worst-case exposure. If your group's claims come in under projection for the year, you can get money back. If claims run high, the stop-loss coverage protects you from a catastrophic bill.

In plain terms: it's the cost control of self-funding with a safety net, at a monthly bill that looks and feels like a regular premium.

Why this matters more in Oklahoma than in some other states

Oklahoma's small group market is price-sensitive, and fully-insured premiums bake in the carrier's margin and the cost of covering every group's risk, including the sicker ones, spread across the pool. A level-funded plan lets a healthier group stop subsidizing that pool as heavily. If your workforce skews younger or you've had a few clean claims years, you're a strong candidate to see real savings.

Who this fits

Groups of roughly 10-150 employees with a reasonably healthy claims history
Employers currently on a fully-insured plan who haven't shopped alternatives in a few years
Businesses that want more visibility into where their healthcare dollars actually go — level-funded plans typically come with claims reporting you never see under fully-insured

Who should be cautious

If your group has a lot of known high-cost claimants, or your census is small enough that a single bad claims year could swing the numbers hard even with stop-loss protection, this needs a closer look before you commit. This is not a plan design you should back into without someone running the numbers on your specific group.

The part brokers don't always explain

Level-funded isn't a single product — the details of stop-loss attachment points, what counts toward your "level" payment, and how surplus refunds work vary meaningfully by carrier. Two "level-funded" quotes from two carriers can look similar on the cover page and be very different in how much risk you're actually carrying. This is exactly the kind of plan design decision where going direct to one carrier, or working with a broker who only pushes one carrier's level-funded product, can leave real savings on the table.

Start here

If you've been on the same fully-insured plan for a few renewal cycles without seriously comparing a level-funded option, that's worth a look before your next renewal — not after you've already signed off on another increase. Contact Service 1st Benefits and we'll run your group's numbers against both fully-insured and level-funded options so you can see the real difference.